Perseus: Master of the Elements
by Zapperian
Summary: Returning from a rescue mission, Perseus Jackson found his own girlfriend cheating on him while he was away. His image ruined by others, he was deserted by all except his closest of friends. Percy has left camp to accept an offer from a strange being. The offer? To become more powerful than he had ever dreamed of; to become Master of the Elements. Percy/Piper
1. Volunteer Work

**EDITED: 5/20/2013**

**This story was written before Mark of Athena came out, so some stuff probably, _most likely _won't match up with the book. But this story is still awesome. :P**

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Perseus: Master of the Elements

**VOLUNTEER WORK**

**CHIRON**, the centaur, was worried. Word had come from Camp Jupiter that they were entirely surrounded by various monsters, led by Echidna and her son, Chimera. The Romans requested assistance, and right now Chiron was about to ask the campers of Camp Half-blood to help the Romans.

The giants have been defeated for about a few months, although after their defeat the monsters never really died down. They had regrouped in Alaska, the land beyond the gods, and found a new leader, Echidna, the mother of all monsters. Earlier that day, Chiron received an Iris Message from the other camp, from the Praetors Reyna and Jason. They looked battle-worn and tired, and they had begged for reinforcements.

Chiron was holding a war council in the Big House. Even though the minor gods and goddesses each had their own cabin, only the Olympian god's children were a part of the war council. Annabeth Chase was early as usual, jotting various ideas down on a notepad. Across the ping pong table sat Clarisse La Rue, sharpening her fourth electric spear. Conner Stoll were chatting with Will Solace. Travis Stoll was trying to get lucky with Katie Gardener, and Piper McLean had her chin in her hands, looking bored.

_Poor Piper, _Annabeth thought. _She was never really the same after Jason left her for Reyna. _When the Argo II landed in Camp Jupiter, Percy and Jason got along brilliantly, and when Percy offered Jason his former position of Praetor back, Jason graciously accepted and stayed in Camp Jupiter with Reyna. When the Prophecy of Seven was completed, Jason chose Reyna over Piper, and the two got into a romantic relationship.

Leo Valdez walked through the front doors and smiled widely. "The party just started!"

Annabeth looked up from her notepad and scoffed. "You wish."

Leo opened his mouth to make a smartass reply when he was silenced by Percy Jackson walking through the door. Instantly, the entire room went silent out of pure respect. Leo once made a joke that even mosquitos don't even bite Percy out of pure respect. That just proved Annabeth's theory of how Leo said something stupid every ten minutes. The reasons why every demigod, every monster, and even most of the gods highly respect him are because of the deeds he preformed in the Giants War. When the Nemean Lion showed up on the battlefield in Greece, every demigod fled except for Percy, who stood his ground.

Percy then proceeded to slay the beast within ten minutes, thanks to his hydrokinetic powers and a large Greek fire bomb. Yet that wasn't it. Percy also assisted Leo Valdez to slay the actual Hydra, whenever Percy cut off a head Leo would burn it, not allowing more heads to grow. Also, Percy fought Gaea hand-to-hand long enough to distract her while Jason and the others worked the spell that would send her back to Tartarus once and for all.

Percy sat down in a chair next to Annabeth and gently took her hand in his, squeezing it underneath the table while Chiron started his speech. "As some of you may know, the monsters never really dispersed after the defeat of the giants and Gaea."

The counselors nodded.

"The have all regrouped underneath the command of Echidna and her offspring, the Chimera."

Percy stiffened at those names. He remembered the incident at the St. Louis Arch, and he didn't want it to happen again. Travis and Conner yawned, not bothering to hide it. "Get to the point already, Chiron," Travis said.

"They are attacking Camp Jupiter. The Romans are asking for reinforcements because they already lost too many people due to battle." Chiron said tersely. Years of teaching heroes have really taught Chiron patience.

"The mighty _Romans _begging for the Greeks to help?" Clarisse scoffed. She hadn't gotten along with the Romans, although Clarisse did save a lot of Roman lives. "How uncharacteristic."

"They are dying, Clarisse. Just because they insulted your father, Ares," Will said, "doesn't mean you have to go all ballistic on them—"

"They never even heard of his _name_!" Clarisse said harshly, emphasizing the word name. "You would've thought that they would at least know the Greek counterparts of the Roman gods!"

"Calm down children," reprimanded Chiron. "Clarisse, you don't have to go."

"Well then, who is going?" Annabeth asked.

"Who would like to go?" Chiron asked the counselors. "You would take fifty half-bloods with you. That's about a fifth of the campers here."

Clarisse shook her head violently and resumed sharpening her spear. Travis and Conner said no simultaneously, Katie Gardner sighed and said that she had plants she needed to tend to, and Will Solace shrunk into his chair, muttering no meekly.

"Why don't you guys want to go?" Chiron asked, rather disappointed.

"I think, Chiron, that they are all tired of the fighting. I for one, don't want to go either," Annabeth stated. "After all, the Giants War has only been over for a few months." In her heart, she added, _I've got something to do._

Leo smiled. "I'm real good friends with Jason and all, but I'd say no. I'm not really the leader type, you know what I mean?"

Annabeth nodded in agreement. Percy stood up, let go of Annabeth's hand, and raised his hand. "I'll go."

"We'll need more than one person," Chiron said. "Who will it be?"

"I'll do it," Piper said, standing up as she did.

The counselors all raised their eyebrows. Out of everyone there, Piper was the least expected to go back to Camp Jupiter, especially after her break up with Jason. Percy looked surprised too. He had expected Annabeth to change her mind when he said that he wanted to go.

"Great. Percy and Piper, you guys have an hour to pack your bags." Chiron commanded. "Council dismissed."

* * *

An hour later, **PERCY **and **PIPER **arrived at the location of the Argo II with fifty demigods. There were no Ares's children there; they had a profound hatred of the Romans for disrespecting their father. The vast majority of the campers were from the Apollo cabin, some were from Hermes and Nike, and a few were from Athena. The ship's crew was all from the Hephaestus cabin.

They boarded the ship. Percy and Piper got the captain's quarters, where two comfy beds were located. Percy, being the gentleman he is, set up a curtain across the two beds, giving Piper her personal space. The Argo II lifted off of the ground and started towards Camp Jupiter.

Percy rested on his bed and studied a map of Camp Jupiter. He planned on landing a little bit north of the Little Tiber since all of the bad guys were attacking from the Fields of Mars. Percy put the map down and sighed. He was thinking of Annabeth again.

Ever since the Giants War was over, he and Annabeth had resumed dating, but this past month… Annabeth had grown further and further away from him. She was too busy with her Architect of Olympus things and had no more time for Percy. Whenever Percy asked her to watch a movie with him, she would always say that she had something to do. Annabeth never even said _I love you_ anymore, and Percy doubted that she still did.

In the past, if Percy volunteered to do something, Annabeth would always do it with him, no matter how reckless or stupid it was. She was his mortal anchor, the thing that kept him alive when he took a dip in the Styx. Percy held up the sky for Annabeth. He refused immortality for her. She was too valuable to Percy to lose; yet she was still slipping away between his fingers.

The curtain opened up, and Piper stepped out. Percy had always thought that Piper was above average in looks, but Annabeth, in his mind, looked better no matter what. _Jason broke her heart, _Percy thought. _Why is she going to Camp Jupiter then? _

Piper slipped past him and muttered something about cookies and milk. After eating some cookies and drinking some milk, mused over why she had decided to come. She refused to believe that Jason had chosen Reyna over her. The reason she decided to go to Camp Jupiter, Piper thought, was for closure. Just to make sure that Jason didn't really love her anymore, so she could just move on and find some one else.

_After all, _Piper thought, _all the memories I had of him, they were all fake, implanted._ She hated that fact. Piper hated how she fell in love with a guy of whom she had fake memories. Piper tried her best to not be a stereotypical Aphrodite girl, but like all of them, she gets extremely emotionally attached to the people she falls in love with.

Percy's voice rang out suddenly. "Pipes?"

Piper froze. Only her dad calls her that, but he's… well, Tristan McLean is in a better place now. "Don't call me that," Piper hissed.

Percy opened the curtain that separated the two. "Is there something wrong?" His voice had concern etched in it.

"Yes," Piper answered. "You're intruding on my personal space."

Percy frowned. He stayed there anyway, sitting on the edge of Piper's bed. "Why did you come?"

"Because it felt right," Piper said, memorizing the script she had created in her head, just in case anyone asked her that question.

"Is it because of Jason?" Percy asked boldly, the Hero of Olympus getting closer to Piper than she liked.

Piper's gritted her teeth, and she mustered out all the charmspeak that she could. "_Leave me alone_," she charmspoke.

Percy smiled. "Impressive, but ever since that incident when Aphrodite tried to get me in bed… well, lets just say I became resistant to charmspeak forever." Percy shuddered just thinking about that incident.

_Oh gods, that's gross, _Piper thought. "Well, what about you and Annabeth? It doesn't seem as if you two are doing anything lately."

That struck a nerve. For one second, Piper could've sworn Percy's bright green eyes flickered. "We are fine," he hissed.

Percy got up from Piper's bed and went back to his, closing the curtain on the way. Piper followed Percy and in turn sat on his bed. "I'm sorry," she whispered meekly. "I didn't mean it that way, you know I didn't—"

"It doesn't matter," Percy quickly interrupted Piper. There was an awkward silence while Piper made herself comfortable on Percy's bed. "Do you…"

"Do I what?" prompted Piper, trying to finish the sentence for him.

"Do you know whether or not she still loves me or not?" Percy asked seriously. They both knew who _she _was.

"I don't know Percy…" Piper lied. "I'm… I'm not that big on gossip, ya know?"

Percy nodded solemnly. Piper really felt bad for Percy, he had done so many things for Annabeth, but she doesn't really love him anymore. Piper knew for sure that Annabeth didn't love Percy anymore; she had caught her _cheating _on Percy. Piper recalled that it was about a month ago when it happened.**  
**

_It was a warm summer day in Camp Half-blood. Piper was wearing jeans and an orange Camp Half-blood t-shirt, flip-flops, and her hair was messy as usual. She hiked towards the beach, where she always went to mull things over. It was like her secret getaway._

_When she arrived at her secret spot, Piper smiled to herself and sat down. It was right underneath a peculiar rock formation that sheltered her against the wind, and from that position Piper could see everything that goes on at the beach._

_After ten minutes or so of watching the ocean waves lapping against the shore and musing over random things, Piper began to hear cooing noises. She focused her hearing senses and noticed that it came from right above her. Piper shrunk into a recession and listened to the best of her ability. What she heard shocked her._

_"Oh Davis, you know I hate it when you tickle me," a girl's voice said. "But I do love it when you kiss me like that."_

_Piper heard the two people kiss. It was disgusting._

_"But Annabeth," the boy, Davis, said, "You know you love it when I tickle you."_

_Piper was shocked. I thought Annabeth Chase was in a relationship with Percy Jackson! Piper thought. A prang of jealousy shot through her heart, but Piper quickly dismissed it. For a scary moment, Piper thought things that she shouldn't ever think about._

_She thought of Percy Jackson being hers._

_Piper quickly wiped her mind clean and contemplated on whether or not she should tell Percy. If she did… he might destroy the camp in rage, but if she didn't, when Percy figured it out it would be worse. As a child of Aphrodite Piper knew people's emotions and thoughts well, but she still couldn't fathom why Annabeth would cheat on Percy with some son of Apollo._

_She decided to listen in on the conversation. Davis's voice rang through the air. "When are you going to break up with Percy so we can go public?"_

_Annabeth thought. "I don't know." Seeing the expression on Davis's face, she added, "Definitely this month."_

_Piper stayed hidden for a very long time, and she left the spot only when they left. She walked up to Percy's cabin and was about to knock when she hesitated. Piper, being a daughter of Aphrodite hated to see love relationships break, and she didn't want to rat on Annabeth either, even though she knew it was the right thing to do. Piper lowered her hand, turned around, and walked back to her own cabin._

_Piper still wondered why Annabeth would cheat on a guy like Percy._

"Hello? Earth to Piper," Percy said. Piper jolted back to reality. "You've been zoning out for like five minutes. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Piper answered quickly. Too quickly.

"I know something is wrong, Piper. Come on, tell me," Percy pleaded.

Piper remained silent. She decided to not tell Percy, she didn't want to break the news to him, and it should be some one else who broke the news…

"Pipes?" Percy asked. "Hello? Are you still alive?"

"_Nooo_," Piper said sarcastically. "I'm dead."

There was an awkward silence. Piper thought about Annabeth and Davis, but most of all Percy. A few months ago, Piper would've have given Percy a second glance, but now... he was a really handsome guy, and also really nice, too. If he was single, every single girl in the camp will jump on him. Piper smiled mentally. If that did happen, she wouldn't deny that she wouldn't try to get him, but after what happened with _Jason_, she was quite reluctant to get in a relationship.

"Pipes?" Percy asked.

"Yeah?" Piper whispered.

"I just realized that we are lying in the same bed together," Percy said.

Piper laughed, a melodic laugh (or at least that's what Percy thought) and said, "I intend to stay here."

_A bold move_, Percy thought. _Hijack my bed, will ya? _"Well then." Percy got up and went to Piper's bed. He got underneath the covers and smiled at Piper's reaction. "I'll take yours."

"Well then, Perseus Jackson," Piper said. "Good night."

Percy laughed and said, "Don't let the bed bugs bite."

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**Well how do you guys like it? Hopefully you guys liked it, but if you hated it, thought it was meh, or anything like that, leave a comment below.**

**REVIEW****!**


	2. Camp Jupiter

**EDITED: 5/20/2013**

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Perseus: Master of the Elements

**CAMP JUPITER**

A bold move_, Percy thought. _Hijack my bed, will ya?_ "Well then." Percy got up and went to Piper's bed. He got underneath the covers and smiled at Piper's reaction. "I'll take yours."_

_"Well then, Perseus Jackson," Piper said. "Good night."_

_Percy laughed and said, "Don't let the bed bugs bite."_

**- Ω -**_  
_

**PERCY **woke up to the sound of explosions. He ripped the curtain that separated him from Piper and found that she was upright in her bed, probably woken by the same sound. Percy ran out of bed and looked through the giant glass window and gasped at what he saw. The Argo II had crash-landed in the middle of a battlefield.

"What in HADES… how the hell are we already here!" Percy yelled.

A demigod burst into the room. "Sir," he said. "We have crash-landed in the middle of the Fields of Mars!"

"WHAT!" Piper screamed. She pulled out her weapon, Katoptris. The blade gleamed beautifully in the sunlight and looked more like a mirror than a weapon.

"Stay calm Pipes," Percy commanded. He drew out Riptide, and his eyes darkened. "Tell them to form that position that Annabeth always talks about!"

The demigod started. "You mean—"

They were interrupted by a tremendous _BANG! _The entire ship shook. "We have to get out of here," The demigod said. "This place about to blow!"

Percy nodded feverishly and he stabbed through the glass window. It shattered into a million pieces and Percy, Piper, and the demigod climbed out through the window. To Percy's relief, all of the demigods were outside of the ship; those three were the last ones out. The Argo II exploded in a massive fireball, and Percy raised a protective water shield that protected them from shrapnel and fire.

The lieutenant, Jake Mason, the former head counselor of the Hephaestus cabin, came up. "Percy, what should we do?"

"Fight our way towards the Romans, then we can regroup and all that bashizzle," Percy replied. He wasn't the best person on battle tactics.

"Got it. SOLDIERS!" Jake shouted. "TO PERCY JACKSON! FOR OLYMPUS!"

The soldiers cheered loudly and crashed into the enemy, hacking away at hellhounds and dracaenae. They all headed in one direction: towards the Roman banners near the barracks. Piper fought through the monsters quickly and efficiently, she had gotten better at sword fighting. It also helped that she radiated beauty and no monster tried to kill her even though she was stabbing at them.

She heard Jake's voice over the din. "Twenty yards to the right! Shift twenty yards to the right!"

Confused, she checked out her left flank to see what made the demigods shift when she got hit full force by a tidal wave that came out of nowhere. She was thrown ten feet towards the right and landed with a painful _Oof. _After checking to make sure nothing was broken, Piper looked at the source of the giant tidal wave, but all she could see was a dark figure all alone in a huge storm. Lightning flashed and thunder roared, there were clouds and rain whereas the rest of the battlefield was in bright daylight.

Percy Jackson stood in the middle of a giant hurricane. Piper could feel the winds from where she was, probably fifty yards away from Percy. The hurricane radiated pure energy, and all the monsters in the Fields of Mars knew who was at the epicenter of it. Piper saw lightning near the Roman banners. She knew who caused the lightning. Jason Grace.

Percy Jackson ripped through the enemy lines, causing major chaos and confusion. The battle raged all around them, but after an hour of fighting the demigods started pushing the monsters back. The monsters organized a retreat, and they all retreated back to their home base, a large fortification in the middle of the Fields of Mars. It had a towering twenty-foot wall of earth and mud, and Piper couldn't see beyond that.

The Greeks merged into the Roman's lines. Cheers could be heard from the demigods as Percy calmed down the hurricane. Apologetically, Percy approached Piper and said, "Sorry about that."

Piper smiled. "Sorry about what?"

"Well," Percy glanced at his feet, embarrassed. "I kind of hit you with a wave…"

"It doesn't matter. We won!" Piper said happily and hugged Percy. Percy awkwardly patted her on the back, trying to not be distracted by Piper's intoxicating scent.

A voice interrupted Piper's happy streak. "No, they'll be back. There are more monsters than we can count in that fortification."

Percy stopped hugging Piper and looked at the person who had just spoken. "Frank!"

He gave Frank Zhang a manly hug. Hazel Levesque, Frank's girlfriend, appeared next to Frank in an explosion of darkness, shadows seeping out of nowhere. Percy also gave her a hug, and just to spite Frank, a kiss on the forehead. When Hazel wasn't looking, Frank punched Percy in the gut, effectively knocking the wind out of him.

"Jason and Reyna will be so happy to see you guys," Hazel said, glancing at Percy rubbing his stomach and Piper nervously playing with her hair. "How many demigods did you bring?"

"Fifty demigods," Piper answered for Percy.

Frank raised his eyebrows. "Cheap Greeks," he jested.

"Hey," Percy said defensively. "Forty demigods defended Olympus from Kronos."

The four walked side by side towards the barracks. Hazel briefed Percy on the situation. "The other Greek soldiers have already regrouped with our soldiers. Although you two were still on the battlefield, for some odd reason."

"We have two armies. One of them is Jason's army, and the other is Reyna's. The Praetors split up. The larger army defends Temple Hill and New Rome, which is Reyna's army. Jason's army guards the barracks." Frank finished for her.

"So right now we are heading towards Jason's army?" Percy concluded.

"Yes," Hazel confirmed. "Our infantry sustained heavy losses, but our horsemen units are almost intact. We haven't lost a single archer yet and the siege equipment is in order and—"

"Holdup," Piper, who had been silent this entire time, said. "Siege equipment?"

"Of course," Frank said. "How else are we gonna get rid of that giant piece of shit in the middle of the fields—"

"Frank! Language!" Hazel cried indignantly. After a long speech about how cursing is horrible and wrong, Hazel said, "We plan on attacking the fortification, also known as the Bunker, simultaneously with Reyna's army."

"The Bunker?" Percy asked incredulously. "Couldn't have come up with a better name?"

"Sorry, whatever," Hazel snapped. "Anyways, we're here."

Percy was just about to ask where when he was suddenly engulfed in a manly hug. "I'm so glad you came!" Whoever it was said excitedly.

"My pleasure, Jason," Piper said with a hint of coldness.

"And you too, Piper," Jason said happily, ignoring Piper's tone. "I'm so glad both of you came."

Piper nodded. Percy smiled at Jason and Jason grinned goofily. "If it weren't for you guys, we would have been defeated out there. How many demigods did you bring?"

"Fifty," Percy answered tersely. Jason's eyebrows went up.

"Only fifty?" Jason asked, hoping that Percy was joking.

"Why do you ask that?" Percy retorted icily. "New York was held against Kronos with only forty demigods."

"It's just that my army," Jason replied, emphasizing the words _my army_, "Consists of roughly one-hundred demigods, tree spirits, and Amazons as of now."

"Impressive," Piper said. "How many did you start with?"

Jason smiled sadly. "One-fifty three. Luckily, most of them are just wounded, not dead."

Percy saw the sad smile on Jason's face and quickly decided to change the subject. "How about Reyna?" At the mention of Reyna's name, Piper stiffened, and Percy swung a protective arm around her shoulder and hugged Piper close. Surprisingly, Piper let his arm stay there.

Jason's eyebrows arched again when Percy did this. "Well, according to her reports, she has a little bit over fifty demigods but hordes of undead skeletons and two hundred Party Ponies."

"So, what's the game plan?" Percy asked.

Jason laughed heartily. "Jesus, you sound like Annabeth. Speaking of which, where is she? It isn't like her to miss out on a battle."

"I don't know, she's been acting kind of weird lately," Piper answered.

Jason nodded and Percy's lips pulled into a tight smile. Suddenly, Percy heard drums beating. He turned around and saw _a lot _of monsters gathered in front of the demigods, just out of arrow reach. Then, the giant crowd of monsters parted and a huge, roaring beast emerged. It had the head and body of a lion, except a goat's head emerged from its torso. The beast's tail was a snake, spitting venom and occasionally fire.

Percy shuddered. It was the Chimera. All the way across the field, the Chimera's six eyes all looked around for someone. Then, Percy looked straight into the eyes of the beast. It was out for his blood. The Chimera roared, but then a commanding voice roared even louder, "Down!"

The monsters parted again, and a dracaenae emerged. From the torso and up it was a beautiful woman, but underneath was a large, serpentine tail that oozed acid. It's large, green eyes focused on one person only: Percy Jackson.

"Perseus Jackson! I, Echidna, challenge you to a fight! My daughter will fight you to the death!" Echidna roared, a deafening roar that shook the ground Percy stood on. Piper looked worriedly at Percy.

All the demigods' eyes were on him, waiting for him to make a decision. "If you don't accept, Perseus Jackson, I will send all of my troops to swarm you _puny _demigods."

Percy looked at Jason, nodding. Jason grabbed Percy's shoulders. "Don't go, it's probably a trap, I can't let you—"

"Jason, if I don't go, everybody is going to die. Plus, I've faced the monster before." Percy interrupted him. He shook off Jason's hands and looked at Piper. Piper looked down at the ground, and she hugged him and pecked his lips. Percy's brain exploded.

"Good luck, Percy," Piper said. Percy recovered from his mental spasm and nodded and stepped past the front lines, the soldiers parting, staring at him with fear and awe.

Jason frowned. "Is there… anything going on between you and Percy?"

Piper stayed silent for a while, still slightly in shock of her impulsiveness. "Why do you ask?" She said defensively.

"It's just… that's… well you kissed him… and I—"

"What's your point?" Piper demanded icily, hatred coursing through her words.

"Never mind," Jason mumbled meekly.

* * *

**PERCY **stumbled towards Echidna and Chimera, still shocked by Piper's kiss. He didn't know whether or not to be intoxicated or angry, angry because he has a girlfriend or intoxicated because, well, Piper was a pretty beautiful girl.._. _Percy didn't know whether or not to hate or love the kiss.

He didn't have time to decided. A voice full of hatred interrupted his thinking. "You slayed my children, the Nemean lion and the Hydra. I will have you killed!"

The Chimera roared and leaped forward spitting fire and poison. Percy uncapped Riptide and rolled to the side, barely avoiding a plume of fire, but it still singed off part of his shirt. The Chimera roared when it missed, and attempted to tackle Percy. Percy rolled right underneath it, but the snake end bit his left arm. Pain shot up Percy's arm, yet before the snake could inject poison into his arm, he lopped off its head with one stroke with Riptide.

The Chimera screeched and veered off, retreating a safe distance from Percy. Acidic blood dripped out of the tail, and the Chimera growled, giving Percy a little time to inspect his wounds. His left arm felt as if it was on fire, but luckily Percy had cut off the snakehead before it had injected him with poison, otherwise Percy would be in a bad situation right now. Or at least worse than the one he is in right now.

The demigods watched on, not daring to intervene.

_Great, _Percy thought. _One head down, two to go._ The Chimera charged again, catching Percy by surprise and one of its paws caught Percy in the chest, sending him tumbling into a pool of water. Instantly he felt refreshed, and he got an idea. Percy got up from the pool of water, completely dry, and the Chimera retreated once again, for it was a smart animal and knew that it was dangerous to fight Percy in his home territory.

Percy closed his eyes and pictured the entire Fields of Mars flooded with water at least a foot deep. He felt a familiar tug in his gut and heard the roar of water behind him. Percy turned around saw a massive high tidal wave barrel through the Fields of Mars, wiping out monsters as it went. He remained perfectly dry, but the demigods watching him were soaked to the bones, shivering in the wind.

The Chimera, sensing its defeat nearing, retreated even further, but now Percy was in his home territory: water. Percy head on charge the Chimera, running on top of the water, no, gliding was more like it. Water leaped into the air with him, rushing around him and encasing him inside a giant water statue. The Chimera shot flames at him, but the water that was protecting Percy doused the fire. The Chimera whimpered and started to run, but Percy picked it up with his fists made of water and started to drown it. The Chimera was enveloped in a water sphere, crying and spitting acid and flames until at last it vaporized into dust, turning the blue water into a misty golden color.

The water statue dispersed, and Percy fell to the ground, exhausted from using up so much energy. The one foot deep water rejuvenated him a little bit, but Percy was still exhausted.

"Retreat back to home base!" Echidna roared, keeping to her promise. The monsters orderly retreated along with Echidna.

Percy's vision was getting a little bit foggy, and he felt like he should really take a nap. Before he closed his eyes, he saw Frank and Hazel rushing towards him, Frank with ambrosia and Hazel with bandages.

And then he passed out.

* * *

**PERCY** woke up in the infirmary in the barracks. The first thing he saw was Piper and Hazel dozing off in a corner of the room. He yawned and tried to get up by using his arms only, but then pain shot up his left arm and he remembered what had happened earlier. Landing in the middle of the battlefield, drowning the Chimera, _kissing Piper._

_Oh shit, _Percy thought. _If Annabeth found out... why did Piper kiss me in the first place? Gods damn it this is going to cause soo much shit—_

"Oh Percy," Piper said. "You're awake." She flushed red, hoping that he wouldn't remember her rash decision of kissing him. After all, Percy still had a girlfriend. Well, a girlfriend who cheated on him, but still, Percy a) doesn't know, and b) still loves Annabeth.

Percy remained silent for a few moments. The only sounds in the room were Hazel's light breathing. Then Percy sighed. "Why did you do it, Piper?" Piper flushed a deeper red.

"Do what?" She feigned ignorance.

"You know pretty much damn what I mean," Percy said. "Why'd you kiss me?"

Before Piper had a chance to respond, Percy continued. "You know I have a girlfriend, right?"

"Yeah." Needless to say, he had a _cheating_ girlfriend. But Percy didn't know that.

Percy looked at Piper for a while. "Just don't do that again." Piper nodded, not daring to meet the piercing sea green eyes.

"Why'd you do it?"

Piper shrugged and didn't answer.

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**Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as the last one! And I was so excited to see how many people put this story as a favorite or followed it, and I am really glad to see the 40+ reviews it got on the first and second day it was up! **

**REVIEW!**


	3. Echidna's Fall

**A/N: Hooray! We have reached 100 reviews! In celebration, I will give you guys this chapter. I will never update this fast unless this story reaches 200 reviews in three days, which I do not think will happen. See? This is what happens when you review. I decide to post this early, that's what happens.**

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Perseus: Master of the Elements

**ECHIDNA'S FALL**

_Before Piper had a chance to respond, Percy continued. "You know I have a girlfriend, right?"_

_"Yeah." Needless to say, he had a _cheating_ girlfriend. But Percy didn't know that._

_Percy looked at Piper for a while. "Just don't do that again." Piper nodded, not daring to meet the sea green eyes._

_"Why'd you do it?"_

_Piper shrugged and didn't answer._

** - Ω -**

**PERCY **and **PIPER **got washed. Percy's arm was feeling a little bit better, when Hazel poured nectar all over it the wound closed up. Piper didn't have a single cut on her body, and she strapped on her armor without any difficulty.

"They're going to do it today, Percy," Piper told him.

"What are they going to do?" Percy asked.

"They're going to attack the Bunker," Piper answered, and they both stepped out of their tent (which they shared).

Jason Grace stood over a very detailed map of the Fields of Mars, giving directions to soldiers. Jason turned around when he heard Percy and Piper approach and smiled widely at them. "Hey, I see that you guys finally woke up." Slyly he whispered to Percy, "And I see that you are both sharing a tent."

Percy gave Jason his wolf stare and Jason smiled uneasily. Piper flushed red with embarrassment. Percy looked at the map. "So, what's the battle plan? Attack the gates?" Percy asked.

"Yes," Jason said. "We are planning on attacking the South, East, and West gates with Reyna at the same time."

"That's risky," Percy observed. "Then, the monsters would only have to defend three chokepoints. It'll be a bad situation for us."

"Well then," Jason countered. "I don't suppose you have any good ideas, eh?"

Percy laughed heartily. "Aren't the walls made of strong mud?"

"Yes," Jason confirmed. "Surprisingly strong mud."

"Well then, what happens when dry mud, regardless of how dry it is, get wet?" Percy asked.

"It gets all soggy and disgusting," Jason answered. "What's the point of this?"

"If some one would, perhaps, shoot a giant stream of water straight into the Southern wall, would it crumble and allow the horsemen to charge straight through, killing anything that wasn't drowned or flattened by the mud?" Percy asked again.

Jason put on his thinking cap. "Well, yes, that would work." Percy's smile probably lit up the Western seaboard. Piper's heart fluttered after seeing him smile. "But the walls are twenty feet high and fifty feet wide. No demigod has that much power."

Percy smiled and pointed at himself. "I do!"

Jason muttered under his breath. Percy didn't hear anything, but Piper could make out the words, "Even Neptune himself would have a hard time doing it."

"Alright," Percy said. "Have your Party Ponies ready to charge. Send Frank in hawk form over to Reyna and tell her that when she sees the Southern wall collapse, have her charge all of her undead, followed by infantry, alright?"

Jason looked unsure. "It would be a good plan, but you would have to deliver your side of the bargain. Somehow you have to summon a twenty by fifty foot wave and have it run about a mile to destroy that Southern wall. Can you keep it up?"

"Yeah, of course," Percy replied.

After seeing Jason's skeptical look, he added, "I swear on my honor as a Roman."

Jason smiled grimly. "If you succeed, you will become a hero of Rome. If you don't... well, let's just say there are some things worse than death, especially for an dishonorable Roman."

"Now go send Frank to Reyna, and come back here when you are ready."

Jason nodded and left to find Frank.

* * *

When the time has come for **PERCY** to flood the Bunker,** PIPER **found him at the breakfast table, sacrificing all of his food to Neptune. Piper smiled at him and said, "Jason says it's time."

Percy nodded. He got up and followed Piper to the front lines and met Jason there, pacing back and forth. When they arrived, Jason smiled. "I thought that you were going to ditch. Now go and do your work, Perce."

Percy laughed. "Just one thing, Jason. I'm going to have to borrow a horse."

Jason laughed. "There are tons of horses."

"I've noticed," was the reply.

"Here! Bring Percy Jackson a horse!" Jason roared. A soldier got off his own horse and gave the horse to Percy. Percy mumbled thanks and got on the horse.

"What's your name?" Percy asked the horse. Jason raised his eyebrows, but then he remembered that Percy was a son of Poseidon, which let him speak to horses.

_A son of Neptune… _it thought. _We hadn't had one of those ever since ever. My name is Twister._

_ Well then, _Percy said to the horse. _Do you mind getting a little bit wet?_

_ Nope, _the horse replied.

_All right, _Percy said. _Bring me about one hundred yards away from the Southern gate of the Bunker, just out of arrow shot._

Twister neighed in response. The soldiers parted to give Percy space and they all wished him good luck. Twister trotted down the Fields of Mars, until they were about a hundred yards away from the bunker. Percy could see dracaenae with arrows on the top of the wall, all pointed at him, but they didn't shoot because they knew he was out of range.

Percy looked back towards the barracks and saw the Party Poinies all ready to charge. Then he looked towards New Rome and saw Reyna's banners fluttering in the wind. He looked back towards the Southern wall and closed his eyes. He pictured the Little Tiber, with its water just sloshing around and he pictured the aqueduct's water rushing towards the Bunker. Percy felt a familiar tug in his gut and he heard the gasps of all the monsters and all the demigods. Unable to resist he turned around and was shocked by what he saw. Instead of a twenty by fifty mass of water it was more like a giant tsunami with a length of a hundred feet.

Percy turned around to face the bunker, sweat sliding down his face. He thought about the thing that always helped him when he did stuff like this: Annabeth. Suddenly, at the mention of her name in his mind, a third of the water fell to the ground in a giant wet _slosh. _Percy panicked, and he started thinking about all other things except for Annabeth when, suddenly, he thought about Piper and how she kissed him. It only lasted a second, but still, it felt so great - even if Percy yelled at her afterwards. Regret filled his body, and the regret became anger, but he calmed himself down by thinking about the kiss and Piper.

With a mighty roar Percy pointed his right arm forward and the sky went dark when the massive water sphere started flying towards the Southern wall. Percy couldn't believe it. Annabeth didn't motivate him, Piper did. _But I love Annabeth, _Percy thought. His thoughts were interrupted by a humongous crash and Percy looked up. The entire Bunker was flattened out and flooded, the walls were all gone, and Percy could see the crude tents that the monsters lived in.

Percy took out Riptide and roared, "CHARGE!"

The whoops and wild cheers of Party Ponies pierced the air, and instantly dozens of centaurs wielding paint-ball guns mixed with celestial bronze went ballistic, splattering monsters by the dozens. A cyclops was about to crush a centaur when a crack underneath it opened up and the monster fell into the crevice. Out of the pit came the undead warriors, courtesy of Hazel, clothed in old Roman armor. The skeletons fought every monster in sight, and soon enough the fortress became a rumble pit, with skeletons and monsters tumbling around in the wet mud. The centaurs moved to the sides, allowing the Roman demigods to come storming in. Immediately, the battle was turned in the favor of the Romans, and Percy didn't even lift his sword.

That is, until he saw Echidna.

Echidna hissed and swatted a demigod away with her giant tail. She was no longer in dracaenae mode, now she was a full snake that oozed acidic blood and she was headed for one person: Percy Jackson.

Echidna hissed and opened her mouth. Flames rushed out of her mouth, but Percy wasn't afraid. He summoned his water shield and all the fire collided with the water, turning it into steam. Echidna hissed again and slithered away, but demigods surrounded her. Echidna roared and shot flames into the air, but Percy's water shield shielded them all from the fire.

"Leave the battlefield," Echidna hissed, "puny demigods. My fight is with Perseus Jackson alone."

Percy waved off the other demigods, but they still formed a loose circle around Echidna. She hissed again, spitting acidic blood onto the ground. Percy examined Echidna and found that she had numerous arrows sticking out of her, there was even a halberd sticking out of her torso. "All I want is one thing," Echidna hissed, but this time it wasn't so threatening. It sounded as if she had given up.

"What is it?" Percy asked, genuine curiosity welling up inside of him.

"Last words and a quick death," Echidna replied. Surprised, Percy still didn't lower his sword because he was suspecting a trap.

"Alright, speak your last words," Percy demanded. Echidna hissed, and more acidic blood spat out of her mouth.

"You have defeated me, Perseus Jackson, so I want you to slay me," Echidna hissed. Percy was even more surprised.

Percy remained silent. He walked up to Echidna warily and raised Riptide. Echidna closed her eyes and waited for Percy to administrate the finishing blow, but Percy lowered his sword. "What are your last words, Echidna?"

If a giant, twenty-foot snake could grin, then Echidna would've grinned. "Soon, your whole world will crumble. There will be people you cannot defeat and enemies in the least likely of places. Heed my words, Perseus Jackson, for your life is just going to get harder."

In a rage, Percy brought down Riptide with such power that it lopped of Echidna's head cleanly. Monster dust exploded everywhere, and by the time that it was gone, Percy was trembling. Piper walked up to him and gave him a hug. "It's over!" Piper said excitedly. "We can go back to Camp Half-blood!"

"Not so fast," a girl's voice interrupted Piper's happy streak. It seems that Piper's happy streak always gets ended. "Why leave so fast, Hero of Rome?"

Reyna emerged from the crowd in her purple Praetor's toga. Piper instinctively shrunk behind Percy and her hand found his. Percy reassuringly squeezed Piper's hand. Jason also emerged from the crowd and he stood next to Reyna. "After all," Reyna continued. "Your ship seems to be in disrepair."

Jake Mason shouted somewhere, "She's right, Perce! We ought to stay here for while."

Jason and Reyna looked at him expectantly. "Percy, you are a hero of Rome. Even if you want to leave, they won't let you. The least you can do is to stay here for at least until the ship is fixed."

Percy nodded. Jason smiled and said, "Alright Frank, do what you have to do."

Frank and Dakota laughed and hoisted Percy onto their shoulders despite Percy's requests to put him down. Frank, using his loud voice shouted, "Percy Jackson, Son of Neptune, Savior of Olympus, and the Hero of Rome!"

The soldiers around them raised their helmets and cheered loudly, chanting, "Percy! Percy! Percy!"

* * *

**PERCY **sighed. It was the night of the day that Percy slayed Echidna, and he was exhausted. He had already eaten dinner and apparently it was going to take a month to repair the Argo II. Percy sighed and headed towards the bath area. When he reached the baths Percy realized it was crowded and was immediately disgusted until he noticed that everyone was wearing swim trunks and bikinis.

Percy was glad that he was wearing his swim trunks. He didn't want to be the only nude person in the entire bathroom, and plus, it was just wrong. He slipped off the towel and heard some daughters of Venus giggle as they looked at his half-naked body. Percy blushed red and he quickly got into one of the smaller two people tubs and relaxed, letting the hot water do its job. Instead of turning on the jets, Percy made the water rise up and massage his temples and arms. _This feels amazing_, Percy thought. _Now if only the bathroom wasn't so crowded and noisy…_

Suddenly the jets turned on and bubbles flew everywhere. Percy looked up and saw Piper relaxing in the same bathtub as he was in. Percy started panicking and was about to get out the bathtub when Piper let out a soft moan of pleasure. Percy immediately got back in the tub because he felt something go wrong in his Scandinavian regions, and if he got out of the tub now he would probably die of embarrassment.

Percy decided to relax. _It doesn't matter that Piper is in the bathtub with me; I mean, after all, she is wearing a bikini and I am wearing swim trunks. Right? _Percy asked himself. Percy closed his eyes and maintained his composure until Piper accidentally brushed her leg against his. Percy immediately went rigid and curled up into a ball.

Piper opened her eyes and flushed a deep red that made her (In Percy's opinion) look incredibly cute. "So, uh, Percy… how's… the bathtub?"

"Well," Percy said. He thought of something to say without sounding weird. "It uh, just got hot?"

Piper flushed a deeper red, if that was possible. "Oh gods no," Percy quickly corrected himself. "No, I didn't mean it that way, oh Hades no… whatever just forget what I said, ok?"

Piper nodded, still flushing a deep red. Percy tried to keep the conversation alive. "So uh, what are you wearing?"

Piper looked at Percy with a quizzical expression. Percy realized his mistake and tried to keep a calm demeanor, but it was obvious that he was panicking. "Uh, forget that, uh…"

Piper laughed timidly. "Now I think I know by what Annabeth means when she calls you dense."

At the mention of Annabeth, Percy seemed to become a little bit more sober. Percy started rising out of the bathtub. "I think I'll go to bed now."

"Yeah, alright remember your bed is the bottom bed, I get the top one," Piper replied nonchalantly. Percy paled. _She's joking, isn't she? No way in hell would Jason make me share a room with Piper. _For some odd reason Percy liked the idea of sharing a room with Piper, but he quickly pushed that thought out of his mind.

He quickly wrapped a towel around himself and muttered goodbye to Piper and sprint-walked out of the bathroom. When he was at the room Jason told him he was going to sleep in, he took a deep breath and opened the door with the key. And he gasped.

It turned out that he did end up sleeping on the bottom bunk.

* * *

**Well, I hope you like this chapter as much as the other two, and I must say, WOW! 100+ freaking reviews! Thanks guys! I apologize if this chapter wasn't so good and was a little bit short and rushed.**

**REVIEW!**


	4. Closure

**EDITED: 5/20/2013**

* * *

Perseus: Master of the Elements

**CLOSURE**

_Piper laughed timidly. "Now I think I know by what Annabeth means when she calls you dense."_

_At the mention of Annabeth, Percy seemed to become a little bit more sober. Percy started rising out of the bathtub. "I think I'll go to bed now."_

_"Yeah, alright remember your bed is the bottom bed, I get the top one," Piper replied nonchalantly. Percy paled. She's joking, isn't she? No way in hell would Jason make me share a room with Piper. For some odd reason Percy liked the idea of sharing a room with Piper, but he quickly pushed that thought out of his mind._

_He quickly wrapped a towel around himself and muttered goodbye to Piper and sprint-walked out of the bathroom. When he was at the room Jason told him he was going to sleep in, he took a deep breath and opened the door with the key. And he gasped._

_It turned out that he did end up sleeping on the bottom bunk._

**- Ω -**

**PIPER **walked among the beautiful marble streets of New Rome, admiring the gleaming white houses and orderly Roman way of life. _How nice would it be to live in a place like this__? _Piper thought. _To be surrounded by demigods in a place that was completely safe, with no threats of monsters whatsoever._

She bumped into someone. After hastily apologizing, Piper saw the one person that she wanted to avoid: Jason. He grinned shyly and uncharacteristically, something unusual for the usually confident son of Jupiter.

"Hi," Piper muttered meekly, and Jason's hand scratched his neck.

"Hey," he replied, smiling ruefully. "What's up?"

"Killing monsters and stuff," Piper answered. The awkwardness in the air was tangible. "How 'bout you?"

Jason nodded, the grin disappearing. "Just wondering why you, of all people, came to Camp Jupiter's defense," he told her, as blunt as a Roman Praetor needed to be.

Piper stayed silent for a while, her hand nervously playing with her hair. She saw Jason fidget uncomfortably and wondered if he felt as awkward as she did. "I came for... closure, I guess."

"From what?" Jason asked quietly, not quite daring to look Piper in the eye.

"You know what," Piper said. "Don't feign ignorance on me, Jason." Piper had expected anger to radiate from her voice, but instead, a slight melancholic feeling crept up upon her, edging into her voice.

"Why I," he swallowed, "did what I did." Piper nodded tersely, eyes studying the nervous Praetor. She had never seen Jason this uncomfortable before. Perhaps she was pushing it, crossing an unspoken line - no. Piper needed to hear this.

Jason took a deep breath, and Piper observed how the sky seemed to darken with Jason's mood. "My duty is to Rome, always."

"Yes," Piper agreed, "but I don't see how-"

"And I felt," Jason interrupted, "that my loyalty belonged to Reyna. I knew her before my memories were wiped and before you came into my life." He paused, searching for words. "And every moment I spent with you, I felt more and more guilty until ultimately I realized that I couldn't do this anymore. You were like the sweetest vice of them all, but for the betterment of Rome, I decided to return to Reyna."

"So I'm a vice," Piper murmured, tears threatening to escape from her eyes. "A distraction to Rome."

"No, no, no," Jason amended guiltily, "gods - Reyna's the public orator, not me. You know I didn't mean it like that."

"It's okay. This was the closure I needed."

And with that, Piper turned around to leave. "Don't go," Jason pleaded, laying a hand on Piper's shoulder. She shrugged it off and whipped around, staring the Praetor dead in the eye.

"I'm sorry." And with that, the daughter of Aphrodite left.

* * *

She found herself in **PERCY**'s company, back in their shared abode. Piperlooked as if she was on the borderline of breaking down, so Percy slung an arm around her shoulder and pressed her close. They weren't especially close friends during the Prophecy of Seven, but after a week and a half of living together, Percy and Piper had become pretty close friends.

The kissing incident was overlooked and ignored, but like chocolate, one bite isn't enough. Percy struggled to keep his thoughts from edging into dangerous territory.

"What happened?" Percy asked, squeezing Piper's shoulder. Even when her siblings died in battle, Piper didn't shed a tear. Maybe it was some sort of emotional thing, daughter of Aphrodite and all, being super-sensitive to emotions.

"Jason," she managed to get out, "gave me closure." Her usually rich voice was hoarse with bitterness. "And here I am thinking, that maybe I would've been better off not knowing the truth."

"It is better than getting lied to," Percy comforted, and Piper nearly snorted at the irony. _Didn't he know that his own girlfriend cheated on him behind his back? _Piper thought. When Piper didn't respond, Percy gently tilted her face towards him and kissed her cheek, sending soft puffs of his breath hitting her eyelashes. "You're beautiful, you know that? Don't let someone like Jason make you think any different."

"Sometimes, I wish I can run away from it all," Piper whispered against her friend's ear. "Build a small house, somewhere away from everything, and live there. For eternity. Maybe with someone I love."

"I'll build you a house," Percy promised. "And Annabeth and I would live there with you and whoever you love, and maybe our kids will play together. A house by the sea. I like that idea."

"It sounds nice," Piper replied, smiling. "In the future, perhaps."

"Perhaps? Sounds like a yes to me."

Piper rolled her eyes.

* * *

A month after Echidna was defeated, **PERCY **stood on the Argo II, waving goodbye to all the Romans waving back at him. Reyna and Jason had given him a special set of armor that he was wearing right now. Percy smiled widely at them and then told Jake Mason, "Let's go."

The Argo II lifted up and took off into the sky. Percy walked towards the captain's quarters. When he shut the door, he started to take off his armor. He started with the red cape. When he took it off, he started taking off the metal pauldrons, but Piper interrupted him by walking in and smiling at Percy.

"Such a shame. You looked so good in that," Piper said. Percy hid a blush and removed the hood. He reached around his back to take off the chest plate but he couldn't reach the strap. Percy kept on trying to take it off when he felt a pair of hands do it for him. He whipped around and nearly head-butted Piper. Piper ran her hands underneath his chest plate and smiled wryly at him. She took off the chest plate and set it on the bed.

"Uh… thanks," Percy mumbled and started to take off the ankle braces. When he was done, he put all the armor in a bag and set it underneath the bed.

"You ought to start sleeping," Piper told Percy. "It'll take a day and a half to get to camp, and it's already like 6:00!"

"So why should I go to bed if it's six?" Percy asked. "And why the hell does it take thirty-six hours to get to New York?"

Piper laughed. "It's nine in New York, so you should start sleeping so you wouldn't get jetlag. Also, the engines were busted so we have to use the wind."

Percy sighed. "I thought that they fixed the engines."

Piper shrugged and Percy lay down on his bed. Piper looked at him and gently whispered, "Sleep tight." She shut the curtain that separated their beds.

Percy smiled. They've been saying this to each other in Camp Jupiter when they shared a bunk bed and he intended to keep up the tradition. "Don't let the bed bugs bite."

Before he fell asleep, Percy prayed to have no bad dreams. Too bad no one was listening.

_Percy was in a dimly lit room. It looked like the interior of his cabin, and he could barely make out the outlines of the bunks and the fountain. But what he did clearly make out was the defined shapes of two people pressed up against a wall._

_There were small moaning noises coming from the two, so Percy focused his attention on the two. Their hands were roaming each other's body crazily, want and need heavy in the air. Percy still couldn't see what color their hair was or who they were, but what he did know was the girl's body was… well, pretty curvy._

_Percy could sense the heat and passion. The girl moaned loudly, a deep, throaty moan. "Percy…" Percy shivered and thought that he heard the voice before. So I am watching myself, Percy thought, slightly amused. I'm stalking myself._

_The girl threw the dream Percy's form onto the bed and started crazily tearing off his shirt. He did the same to her and resumed heavily kissing each other and running their hands all over their bodies. They started to move closer to the light and Percy eagerly waited to see who the girl was._

_Instead of seeing blonde hair like he expected, Percy saw a beautiful Cherokee brunette kissing dream Percy. He knew who it was._

_Dream Percy moaned. "Piper…"_

Percy woke up in cold sweat, breathes heavy and shaky. The dream had been so vivid and realistic that Percy could practically taste Piper's lips on his, and that only increased his want for more.

Demigod dreams were always a sign of what was to come. And Percy wasn't sure whether or not he wanted this to become reality.

* * *

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	5. Camp Halfblood

**EDITED: 4/21/2013**

* * *

Perseus: Master of the Elements

**CAMP HALF-BLOOD**

_Percy woke up in cold sweat, breathes heavy and shaky. The dream had been so vivid and realistic that Percy could practically taste Piper's lips on his, and that only increased his want for more._

_Demigod dreams were always a sign of what was to come. And Percy wasn't sure whether or not he wanted this to become reality._

**- Ω -**

After eating breakfast and climbing onto the deck, **PERCY** could see the Empire State Building. He was sitting on the railing of the Argo II, and there were only thirty minutes left before he arrived back at Camp Half-blood. Piper was pacing the deck, deep in thought.

Ever since he woke up, Percy tried to ignore Piper. Percy couldn't get rid of the feeling that the dream brought; a nice, glowing warm, tenderness for Piper that certainly wasn't _natural._

_Not natural._ The word repeated itself in Percy's head, and he tried to piece something together. Why would he have a dream about a girl he didn't like? His thoughts wandered all over his memories, and then he instantly remembered a limousine and a hot lady.

Aphrodite. She had told him that he would make his love life interesting. She had probably screwed around with his feelings, and Percy did _not _like it. Percy glanced around and walked towards the bow of the ship and leaned over the railing, letting the wind blow through his face. It felt so nice, so refreshing.

Someone lightly tapped Percy's shoulder. He whipped around and accidentally smashed his forehead against the stranger's face. Percy stumbled backwards and nearly fell off the side of the ship, and the person he head-butted fell down to the ground. The guy, Jake, got back up and rubbed his face, groaning as he did.

Percy quickly apologized. "Sorry," He said. "Jake, don't sneak up on me _ever._"

"Sorry, Perce," Jake groaned, still rubbing his face.

"Why'd ya come, anyway?" Percy asked.

Jake groaned some more. "We land in ten minutes."

Percy nodded and Jake walked away. The Argo II slowly approached Camp Half-blood, and underneath them Percy saw a mass of demigods gathered around the place where the Argo II was going to land. The Argo II gently landed in the clearing, and Percy and the other demigods exited the ship. Chiron was there waiting for the demigods.

"Glad to see not a single camper is missing," Chiron said. He leaned closer to Percy and whispered, "How'd you manage to do it?"

Percy smiled and whispered back, "I have no idea."

Chiron rolled his eyes and started to give out special beads for the campers that went to Camp Jupiter. The fifty demigods lined up to take a bead and after a while, Percy took his bead. He thanked Chiron and then headed off towards the ocean. It was still rather early in the morning, so Percy decided to go for a swim.

Percy took a detour to his cabin to get his swim trunks, and then he headed back towards the beach. When he got there, he took off his shirt (he heard several girls giggle) and slowly waded into deep water. Percy swam deeper into the ocean, using the ocean current to aid him. The feeling of water around him calmed him. After swimming for a while he reached the ocean floor and he settled into the sand.

Percy started to think about random things, such as himself and Annabeth. _Where was Annabeth when I landed, anyways? _Percy thought to himself. _Why doesn't she spend any time with me anymore? Why did I suddenly have a dream about Piper? Why are there so many questions?_

"Because life has many questions," a female voice said. Percy nearly pissed his pants. He looked around wildly to see who said that.

"I'm right in front of you, stupid," the voice said. Percy looked in the direction of the voice and a beautiful blonde was sitting in the sand next to him, _underwater._

"What the heck are you doing underwater, Aphrodite?" Percy demanded. Aphrodite smiled, a bright white smile that seemed to illuminate the water around them. "How can you even breathe? You scared the crap out of me!"

Aphrodite laughed, a sound that sounded just like Piper's laugh. "I was born in the sea, so I obviously can breathe underwater." She giggled.

"Well, what does a goddess like you want with a demigod like me?" Percy asked.

Aphrodite smiled, and said, "What, can't a goddess just chat with a demigod?"

Percy raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Oh well then, I know something we could talk about."

"What?" Aphrodite asked eagerly.

"Why do you always try to seduce me?" Percy inquired, quite curious.

Aphrodite laughed again, and Percy couldn't help but notice again how much it sounded like Piper's. "Don't try to get a big ego, now, Percy. Not many men can say that they have refused a seduction from the love goddess."

Percy nodded uncomfortably, and Aphrodite smiled and rested her head on Percy's shoulder. He pondered whether or not to push her off, but Aphrodite said something before he could do something. "You don't mind it when I do this."

"That's because Piper does it too," Percy said. "Speaking of which, Aphrodite— Percy gently pushed Aphrodite off his shoulder —it just so happens that I had a dream about your daughter, Piper."

"Oh? Really?" Aphrodite asked, amused.

"Yeah," Percy murmured. "Why did I have that dream? I don't like her, but now I feel as though I kind of do— never mind. Are you screwing with my emotions?"

"Remember when I told you that I would make your love life interesting?"

Percy nodded.

"Yeah, that. And plus, I can't make love, well, I _can_ literally (if that was what you were asking about) but I mean figuratively; I can only enhance it. So I can't make you love anyone, but if you had a tiny crush on someone, I could make it grow. It's like love is a plant, I could water it and make it grow, but first I need the seeds," Aphrodite explained.

Percy nodded, rather confused.

"So you would have had to already liked Piper a little bit romantically for me to make you like her more." Aphrodite explained further.

"I don't remember when I started liking Piper," Percy remarked.

Aphrodite smiled. "Remember the day when the Argo II landed?"

Percy nodded.

"First thing you do, you don't even say anything to Annabeth, Jason, Leo, any of your old friends; the first thing you do is to walk up to Piper and to shake her hand and say, 'Hi, I'm Percy Jackson. Pleasure to meet you.'"

"So?"

"Well, I'm just saying. You should've seen or heard what she was thinking about." Aphrodite smirked at Percy, who was now lightly blushing.

Percy gently pushed Aphrodite off of his shoulder and somehow managed to make the blush go away. "So, in the end, what did you do to my feelings about Piper?"

Aphrodite stood up and started to walk away. "I just _enhanced _an emotion that was already there."

"Wait!" Percy yelled. "What's up with Annabeth?"

"Go find her. She's at the secret rock formation that you guys go to have _fun_." Aphrodite giggled and disintegrated into the water.

_Why would Annabeth be there? _Percy asked himself.

He started to swim back towards the shore.

* * *

**PIPER **was on the beach, heading towards the secret rock formation that she always liked to go to. Annabeth had showed her the spot after Jason broke up with her, and Piper always went there when she had to think things through.

She was trying to think of how to tell Percy that Annabeth was cheating on him. Piper sighed and walked through the underbrush. She was about to step through the clearing near the cave when Piper heard kissing noises. Piper immediately went into stealth mode and peeked out from under the bush.

Davis and Annabeth. Two blonde haired people stuck in a tangled heap on the ground. Piper gasped silently and almost stumbled into the clearing. She backtracked and started walking back towards the beach, but then Piper ran into Percy.

_Oh sweet baby Zeus._

"Percy!" She hissed. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, Aphrodite told me to see Annabeth here," Percy answered.

_What was he doing with my mom? _Piper asked herself. She grabbed Percy's shirt. "Well you can't go. She's uh… not here. She's still in her own cabin."

Percy looked at Piper seriously. "I just went to her cabin."

Piper gulped nervously and tried dragging Percy away from Annabeth and Davis. Percy shook her off and grabbed her shoulders and looked straight into her eyes.

"Piper… what is going on?" Percy asked.

"Nothing, why?" Piper lied. Percy shook his head and started to walk towards the clearing. Piper tried her best to stop him, but he was too strong. He stormed into the clearing, and Piper awkwardly followed him.

Davis and Annabeth's lips were still locked. Percy stood there silently for a moment, and what he did next shocked Piper and the gods on Olympus watching. No, he didn't yell, he didn't scream, but what he did do is douse the pair with icy water. Piper would've laughed at the comical expression on Annabeth and Davis's face if the situation were appropriate.

With a glare from Percy, Davis instantly got the message. He turned around and left, leaving a fuming Percy Jackson, a shocked and wet Annabeth Chase, and a unsure Piper McLean, who felt as if she were intruding in a very personal moment. Percy's eyes followed Davis out if the clearing before shifting his head to look at Annabeth.

She stood there, slowly backing away, but when Percy looked at her she stopped and looked at the ground. Piper stood there awkwardly, feeling as though she had no part in what was definitely going to ensure.

"Annabeth…" Percy muttered. Annabeth still stared hard at the ground, which seemed to be the most interesting thing in the world for her. "Why?"

Annabeth looked up and stared into Percy's eyes and slowly backed away from him. His eyes certainly weren't natural, it seemed as if his eyes glowed with an intense power.

"Why?" Percy asked again persistently.

Annabeth looked hard at her feet. She remained silent for a few moments and then suddenly burst into words. Her voice escalated with each word. "Well it started when you disappeared for weeks when you were on Ogygia. I was so scared that I wasn't going to see you again, but I did, and you came back. But then, the Titan war came, and I didn't know whether or not you would survive, so I started to see another guy because I knew that if anything happened to you I would be devastated and—"

"You were seeing another guy when I was fighting Titans?" Percy asked, tone constrained and quiet. It seemed as if he was reining in his emotions.

"Let me continue, please," Annabeth begged, fear in her voice. "I knew… I knew that there was always a danger of you dying, and I didn't want to be devastated when you did, so I started to see another guy, and when you disappeared for eight months he, Davis, was the only thing keeping me sane because I still loved you and I was worried sick, and the relationship went on a whole new level but when you came back I stopped seeing him until a few days before you decided to go to Camp Jupiter to help the Romans, and when you were gone we kind of went public."

"And nobody decided to tell me this?" Percy demanded, voice as soft as the gentle breeze through the leaves.. "Where the Hades is Leo? Why didn't he tell me?"

"He never knew," Annabeth said quietly. "When Jake Mason told him the Argo II was damaged, he built an Argo III and went over to Camp Jupiter to help you guys fix it, but I guess he went too late."

Piper nearly laughed. Leo built another Argo to fix an Argo? That's so Leo.

Percy started pacing around the clearing, pondering what to say next. Based upon his facial features, the boy was struggling to keep his temper under control.. "And _nobody_ decided to tell me?"

Annabeth stayed silent, and Piper played with her hair. Percy stopped pacing and stared at Annabeth, who was still studying the ground. "Not Katie? Travis, Connor, or Clarisse?"

Annabeth was too scared to reply. The sky started dimming and clouds began gathering over the horizon, even though the camp was under climate control.

"I can't possibly fathom why-"

"How about you and Piper?" Annabeth spat venomously. Percy looked confused. Annabeth stared at Piper hard, and then continued, "You and Piper. Jason told me about you guys via Iris Message, he told me about you guys sharing a room, he told me about Piper kissing you—"

"Don't drag her into this, Annabeth," Percy spat defensively.

"See?" Annabeth wildly assumed. "You're defending her!"

Percy's fists clenched and unclenched. When he spoke, his voice was calm and even. "I'm wasting time. Annabeth, we're over. Please, please, _please_ get out of my sight."

"Don't talk to me like that!" Annabeth retorted, sounding slightly hurt.

"You know what, Annabeth?" Percy asked. "When I bathed in the Styx so many years ago, I had a dream-like thing. I dreamt that I was at the bottom of the lake at Camp, and you reached into the water and pulled me up, and gave me a kiss. And just like that, I found myself on the shore of the Styx, and I had gained the curse of Achilles," Percy said.

Boom. There it was - Percy's greatest weapon against Annabeth. The daughter of Athena didn't say anything. A single tear rolled down her cheek.

"You were my mortal anchor," Percy murmured. "And I loved you more than anything in the world."

"I never knew… I never knew…" Annabeth sobbed, completely breaking down after Percy's declaration.

"Don't make this harder than it already is," Percy said softly, voice hoarse and lifeless. "I'm just so, _so_ tired and just _please_ - it's over."

Looking utterly defeated, Annabeth looked into Percy's eyes and felt his sorrow and despair. Remorse hit her like a truck, and she left with only the sound of silent tears gliding down her cheeks. When Annabeth left, Percy sat down on the ground and blinked rapidly to hold his tears in.

Piper decided to comfort Percy, so she sat down next to him and gently hugged him. She whispered words into his ears to make him feel better, and when Percy looked up into her eyes, his eyes scared Piper. They had a godly glow to it, but he emanated so much grief and sorrow that Piper had to look away.

The two stayed that way for a long time, and slowly, ever so slowly, two broken hearts were mended.

* * *

**Gosh, how many times am I gonna rewrite this?**

**Review**!


	6. Fireworks

**EDITED: 5/20/2013**

* * *

Perseus: Master of the Elements

**FIREWORKS**

_Looking utterly defeated, Annabeth looked into Percy's eyes and felt his sorrow and despair. Remorse hit her like a truck, and she left with only the sound of silent tears gliding down her cheeks. When Annabeth left, Percy sat down on the ground and blinked rapidly to hold his tears in._

_Piper decided to comfort Percy, so she sat down next to him and gently hugged him. She whispered words into his ears to make him feel better, and when Percy looked up into her eyes, his eyes scared Piper. They had a godly glow to it, but he emanated so much grief and sorrow that Piper had to look away._

_The two stayed that way for a long time, and slowly, ever so slowly, two broken hearts were mended._

**- Ω -**

**PERCY **was walking along the beach with **PIPER**, chatting about random things. It had been a few weeks since Percy broke up with Annabeth. They had become really even better friends after Percy broke up with Annabeth; Piper was sympathetic because she too had her heart broken, and naturally, they grew closer. It also helped that Piper enjoyed doing the same things that Percy did. Since Piper was the daughter of Aphrodite and all, she knew Percy's emotions spot-on, and Piper always knew the right thing to say.

They had just finished talking about building a house on the waves, just for their children to live in.

"Hey Percy?" Piper asked, a blush creeping across her face. Percy had always thought that Piper looked really cute when she blushed.

"Yeah?" Percy stopped in his tracks and looked at her face. Piper didn't look him in the eye; she stared at her shoes.

"Well, the Fourth of July fireworks is coming up… well, yeah…" Piper couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence. After all, Percy recently broken up with his girlfriend, he shouldn't be rushed into going on a date with someone.

"Yes?" Percy smirked mentally. She looked so flustered. And it seemed that no matter what Piper looked, angry, flustered, scared, no matter what she looked so cute.

"Well if you don't want to do that… then we could do… you know," Piper stuttered.

"Oh, well we could do either one," Percy said. _What a smartass reply, _he thought.

Piper flushed a bright red, her face was as red as a tomato.

Percy smiled. "But let's do the first one. I'll come to you around—"

"Seven," Piper squeaked.

"Tomorrow," Percy said.

"Yeah, the Fourth of July is tomorrow," Piper laughed nervously. She was going on a date with Percy Jackson! That was the dream of the entire (female part) of the Aphrodite cabin (even a tiny bit of Piper's).

It seemed that the girls in the Aphrodite cabin had a little empathy link with their mother. Who ever Aphrodite had a crush on, most of the girls in the cabin kind of did, too. It was rather annoying for Piper when she was addicted to One Direction, and before that, Justin Beiber.

Those were horrifying days.

"Well, bye!" Piper squeaked (again), and she raced off to her cabin.

When Piper was out of Percy's sight, Percy did a little jig. The waves started to make weird formations. Maybe this was what he needed, something to get his head off of Annabeth. After all, Piper wasn't planning on getting _serious, _right? Well, now that Percy thought of it, he actually wanted to get serious with Piper. She was always there for him after he broke up with Annabeth, and Percy was infinitely grateful for that.

In a way, he did feel bad about the whole situation with Annabeth. He definitely shouldn't have used the mortal anchor argument. But in a sick, twisted, selfish thought, Percy was glad that Annabeth did what she did - otherwise he would not have gotten this close with Piper. _I think I should find her and apologize to her, _Percy thought.

"Hi," a shy voice came from behind him.

Percy turned around slowly, and he saw Annabeth kicking the sand lightly and staring at the ground. Her hair was down, just the way he liked it, gently blowing in the ocean wind—

Stop. _This is my ex._ _I broke up with her for a reason, _Percy reminded himself. _Think of the devil..._

"Hey Wise Girl," Percy said. Annabeth visibly cringed at the mention of her nickname.

"About the other day—"

"Yeah, about the other day," Percy interrupted. Annabeth immediately and uncharacteristically shut up. "I'm sorry I spoke that way to you, I shouldn't have said those things. I'm really sorry."

Annabeth raised her eyes and looked into Percy's. Percy couldn't help but admire her grey eyes. They were filled with tears that were threatening to drop. And they dropped, all right. They dropped like bombs.

"No, Percy," Annabeth cried. "I should be the sorry one, for Zeus's sake a cheated on you!"

Annabeth sobbed and fell onto her knees. "I shouldn't have done what I did… I should've trusted you more, the least I could've done was to tell you."

Percy resisted saying, _You should've._

"But it's just…" Annabeth paused to wipe her eyes, "I was so scared that one day, one day you wouldn't come back."

Percy remained silent. What was the point of all of this?

"I really love you, Percy, I do, I still do," Annabeth said. "That's why I did… that's why I did what I did. I was so scared of the day that you wouldn't come back."

Once again, Percy resisted the urge to say, _Yeah, right!_

"Please Percy, could we forget that this happened? Can we get back to the way it used to be?" Annabeth asked.

"Annabeth," Percy whispered quietly. "How long were you cheating on me?"

Annabeth paled and wiped some tears out of her eyes. "Since during the Titan War."

"So you've been cheating on me for two years, correct?" Percy asked.

After a while, Annabeth nodded.

"We only got together _after _the Titan War. Do you realize what this means?" Percy asked.

"No," Annabeth said in a small voice, choking on a sob.

"It means that our entire relationship was a lie. In fact, technically you were cheating on the boy, Davis I think, with me." Percy said.

Annabeth sat down on the sand, not replying to Percy's assumption. Percy sat down on the sand with her.

"Let me ask you this, Annabeth. Did you _ever_ love me?" Percy asked.

"I did, and I still do," Annabeth answered.

They sat together in silence. After awhile, Annabeth looked up from the ground and stared into Percy's eyes. "Can… can we at least stay friends?"

"Definitely," Percy said.

Annabeth looked back at the ground, and then back up at Percy's eyes. "Then, can we break up here? You know, because it'll be better like this than… you know."

"I think that'll be a good idea. End the relationship here, mutually," Percy said. "I do think that'll be better than me discovering you cheating and then screaming at you."

Annabeth smiled sadly and remained silent for a while. "You never screamed at me." She hesitated. "Can I have one last kiss?" She stared into Percy's eyes as she said this.

Percy nodded. "I think I'll like that."

Both of them closed their eyes and leaned in, their lips gently touching before Percy deepened the kiss. The sky grew dark, and clouds covered the beautiful sunset. A clap of thunder was heard and rain started to drizzle down upon them. Then, Percy tenderly detached his lips from hers and it was over.

Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase's relationship was officially over. It was a mutual break up.

Annabeth got up awkwardly, and she looked as beautiful and tantalizing as ever, with the rain gently dropping, and the gorgeous sunset in the background. "Thanks, Seaweed Brain."

Percy smiled. "Anytime, Wise Girl."

"Percy, did _you _ever love me?"

"I did."

* * *

**PIPER **still didn't know what to wear. It was already six fifty-five! She had narrowed her choices down to two outfits. It was either a plain white t-shirt with jeans and converses, or a fancy dark green dress. The latter option also required her to put on makeup, however, the former targeted natural beauty (which Piper hoped she had enough of).

She was nearly hyperventilating. Lacy was already out with her date, she couldn't ask her for advice. The only other person in the cabin with her was Drew Tanaka, but Piper needed advice, not a bombardment of insults about her style. Drew was putting on makeup, she was already wearing the typical orange Camp Half-blood t-shirt and jeans, but she somehow made that plain of an outfit look _stunning._

"Hey Drew?" Piper said.

Drew didn't answer. She finished touching up on her mascara and then looked at Piper. "Yes, hon?"

"Um… which outfit should I wear on my date with Percy?" Piper asked.

Drew studied the outfits that Piper held in each hand. Then she pointed at the white t-shirt and jeans. "Trust me, hon. With Percy Jackson, don't dress to impress. He's not a big fan of clothes showing off too much skin."

Piper was surprised by Drew's helpfulness. "Thanks Drew."

No reply. Piper changed into her outfit and sat on her counselor's bed, watching the door. Her heart rate accelerated and her ADHD kicked in. What were they going to talk about?

"I wouldn't count upon getting with Percy, Piper," Drew said nonchalantly.

Piper looked at Drew and asked, "Why?" The harshness of how Piper said it surprised her.

"Annabeth and Percy were making out yesterday on the beach. Maybe Percy Jackson is a very, _very _forgiving man," Drew answered, her lips curled in a smirk. Piper glared at Drew.

"Actually, Percy may kiss you today," Drew continued. "As long as you don't mind where his lips have been."

"Shut up," demanded Piper. Percy couldn't have gotten back together with Annabeth. She was there. Piper saw the hurt, the anger in his eyes.

There was a knock on the door. Piper took a deep breath and opened it quickly. Percy stood outside wearing a plain black jacket, a white t-shirt, and jeans. Basically the exact same thing Piper was wearing.

"Hey Pipes," Percy said. "You wanna…" He jerked his head towards the beach and he held a hand out.

She smiled and took his hand. "I'd love too."

They walked swiftly along the trail towards the beach and when they were there, they sat down in the sands directly in front of where the fireworks were going to go off.

Piper sat down on the sand along with Percy, still holding hands, and they waited for the fireworks to begin.

"We're just on time. The fireworks are going to begin real soon," Percy said happily.

Piper gently rested her head on Percy's shoulder, and Percy breathed in Piper's intoxicating scent. They just sat there for a while, enjoying each other's company.

"You know Pipes," Percy said suddenly, breaking the comfortable silence. "The spaces between your fingers were made so another's could fill it in."

Piper smiled stupidly. "What a random fact."

"Nah, it's just something I thought of," Percy said proudly.

The boom of fireworks was heard and a splash of color dance in the sky. Piper snuggled in with Percy, enjoying his warmth, enjoying the fact that right now, he was hers. What a wonderful feeling. Piper couldn't believe that Annabeth would cheat on Percy.

But that bothered her. Was Percy really making out with Annabeth?

She looked at Percy, and found that he was already looking at her. This made them uncomfortably close, their foreheads and noses touching. But Piper didn't seize the opportunity to kiss him. Actually, Piper looked away, blushing like crazy, and mentally scolding herself. Is this what she wanted? It's barely been a while since Jason broke up with her. Did she really want to just jump into another relationship?

Tears welled up in her eyes. She still could remember the hurt when Jason kissed Reyna in front of everyone. Piper didn't want to feel that again. She didn't know whether or not to trust Percy.

A gentle hand wiped the tears from her eyes, and she looked back at Percy, once again uncomfortably close. And then she thought something.

What if Percy left her? What if she wasn't good enough for him?

"What's wrong, Pipes?" Percy whispered.

Piper hiccupped. "It's just that… I've never kissed anyone before... well, on the lips."

A little white lie never hurt anyone.

Percy looked genuinely surprised, but he quickly masked it. "Oh, was I forcing you into doing something you didn't want to do?"

"No… it's just that this reminds me of a memory that I had of Jason," Piper assured Percy.

For a brief moment, Piper saw genuine anger flash through Percy's eyes and he scooted away from Piper subtly, and Piper could feel the immediate heat drop. "Oh, that's… nice to know."

_She's thinking of JASON? _Percy's mind screamed.

"Oh gods no, Percy it's just that…" Piper sniffed. "I'm seventeen and I haven't even kissed anyone before." Another lie.

The fireworks boomed loudly, and a blossom of color colored the sky.

Percy scooted closer to Piper and pressed his forehead to hers. "Would you like to… change that?"

Before Piper knew it, she closed her eyes and leaned in. More fireworks exploded in the background, and Piper's brain melted. It no longer registered time or thought. She just felt the pure bliss that was Percy's lips.

They eventually separated by lack of air. Percy smiled at Piper kindly and asked, "So, how was it?"

Piper was speechless. "It was amazing."

"Good to know."

They resumed snuggling and watching the fireworks. Then the finale came. The roar was deafening, but the visual effects were amazing. The Hephaestus cabin really topped it off this year.

When the finale was over, Percy got up with Piper and they started walked back towards the Aphrodite cabin. They took the long way, chatting about random things, when Piper asked Percy a question that was bothering her for a while.

"Percy, did you make-out with Annabeth on the beach yesterday?" Piper asked.

Percy stiffened. "She wanted one last kiss before we ended the relationship mutually."

"Okay. So there's nothing—"

"Absolutely nothing, anymore, at least," Percy assured Piper.

Percy walked Piper to the Aphrodite cabin and gently kissed her forehead.

"In fact," Percy said after kissing Piper's forehead, "I think I'm into this new girl."

"And who is this… new girl?" Piper asked.

"Well, she's really sweet and nice, she's always been there for me, and well, she's really just beautiful. And I don't know if she'd say yes or no, but I'd really like for her to be my girlfriend."

Piper's heart froze and butterflies attacked her stomach. "I think… I think she'd like to be your girlfriend, too."

Percy grinned and saluted. "Nice. See ya tomorrow, Pipes."

"See ya. Sleep tight."

Percy smiled. "And don't let the bed bugs bite."

* * *

**PERCY** was about to open his cabin door when he felt something odd. He shook it off and went inside his cabin and nearly fainted. He withdrew Riptide from his pocket and pointed it at the intruder's neck.

"I thought you were destroyed!" Percy roared.

"Please child," Mother Earth, or Gaea, said. "I am Mother Nature. I can not be destroyed."

"Then why are you here?" Percy demanded.

Gaea smiled. "You are moving things along quite fast with that daughter of Aphrodite."

"Leave. Her. Out. Of. This." Percy pressed the blade of Riptide deeper into her neck, and green blood started oozing out.

"I am here to give you an offer, Perseus," Gaea spoke.

"I don't want to hear it. I'm not going against the gods," Percy retorted.

Gaea laughed, despite being at the wrong end of Percy's sword. "It's not that kind of thing. It's not taking sides. It's about personal development."

"I still don't want to know," Percy said.

"Are you sure?" Gaea asked quizzically. "We are offering to help make you more powerful than you could have ever dreamed. We will make you a protogenoi! A primordial! A force of nature! Even Death will fear you!"

Percy was slightly interested, but then he thought of Piper and his friends. He couldn't just leave them behind, especially not Piper.

"No," Percy answered firmly.

Gaea smirked. "You think you have a choice? When the Council decides it wants to do something, it will be done. We will have our way."

"Wait," Percy said, now getting into a defensive position. "What do you mean by 'we'?"

"The other protogenoi, or primordials," Gaea answered.

Out of the shadows, a darker shadow stepped out and morphed into a human being. A female of incredible beauty came out of the shadows.

"Nyx, the night." Gaea introduced. She stared at him coldly.

Then, the water fountain burst, and a mass of swirling water that Percy couldn't control sloshed around the room. It morphed into a humanoid figure.

"Pontus, the sea," Gaea pointed at the humanoid figure.

"And finally, Uranus, the sky" Gaea said. Percy looked around, but he couldn't see anything. Then he sensed it. He sensed the unimaginable amount of power gathering in one corner of the room.

"It might be smart to turn around, kid," Nyx advised. "We're all in human form, but still..."

Percy turned around and closed his eyes, but he was still blinded by the flash of light and the roar of thunder probably made him deaf. When the light was gone there was a ringing in his ears. He turned around and saw and a youthful looking man with white hair. _Interesting combination, _Percy thought.

"Will you accept my offer?" Uranus asked. His voice radiated power.

"I'm… I'm sorry, I already said no," Percy stuttered. He felt so puny beside the four primordials.

Nyx said coldly, "We are not taking no for an answer—"

"It be a shame to see such a beautiful girl suffer," Pontus muttered. He seemed to freeze into the shape of a human being. He picked up a photo of the seven Heroes of Olympus.

"What, Annabeth? No, I already—"

"I'm talking about the Cherokee."

That shut Percy up. "What do you want?"

"We want you to accept our offer," Nyx demanded.

"Why me? Why not Jason, from Camp Jupiter?" Percy asked.

Uranus laughed, a loud, robust sound. "You are the strongest demigod ever. In ancient Greek times Hercules was thought to be the strongest, but now it is you. True, you might not have the muscles to fight him hand to hand, but your control over hydrokinetics is amazing! The heroes of ancient times didn't have these types of supernatural powers."

"So?" Percy asked.

"Perseus, have you ever heard of Alexander the Great or Julius Caesar?"

"I have, from Annabeth," Percy answered.

"Both were trained by us. All major conquerors, like Napoleon, we trained them all. The only major conqueror that we didn't train was Genghis Khan, which was because he wasn't a descendent of the gods," Gaea said.

"And why do I care?" Percy asked bluntly.

"Monsters fear your name, and gods and goddesses respect it. But not all monsters fear it, nor do all gods or goddesses respect it," Pontus said.

"Let me repeat. And why do I care?" Percy asked again.

"Remember when I killed your mother and your step-dad right in front of you? Didn't you feel so weak and helpless?" Gaea asked.

Percy did feel so weak and helpless. Anger flashed through his eyes and it started raining outside.

"If you accepted our offer, you could protect all your loved ones, all the ones you care about. In fact, we can teach you the secrets of— Gaea leaned closer to his ear— immortality," finished Gaea.

By now, Percy was incredibly tempted. He could keep all his friends from dying. Maybe he should do this. It probably wouldn't hurt, he'd tell Piper that he'd be gone for a while and when he came back, he could make her immortal along with him and…

"We could also teach you how to use Darkness, Fire, Earth, and Lightning, along with a bunch of other stuff. Have you ever wanted Frank's ability to change into animals? Piper's charmspeak? Jason and that Hunter's lightning powers? All of your friend's powers can be yours. In fact, we can teach you how to communicate with the dead," Gaea said triumphantly.

The primordials knew he was hooked when Gaea said that.

"So, I can talk to my mom, and my step-dad?" Percy asked.

"Yes," Gaea said.

"How long will I be gone?" Percy asked. The primordials smiled at each other.

"A year in our dimension is a month in this one. I'd say eight months," Gaea said.

Percy looked at his feet. "Give me a day to say goodbye."

Uranus smiled. "Deal. Shake on it?"

They shook on it.

* * *

Review!


	7. Confrontation

**EDITED: 8/11/2012**

* * *

Perseus: Master of the Elements

**CONFRONTATION**

_"How long will I be gone?" Percy asked. The primordials smiled at each other._

_"A year in our dimension is a month in this one. I'd say eight months," Gaea said._

_Percy looked at his feet. "Give me a day to say goodbye."_

_Uranus smiled. "Deal. Shake on it?"_

_They shook on it._

**- Ω -**

**PERCY** woke up late in the morning. He rubbed his eyes sleepily and regretted going to bed so late. Percy had stayed up thinking over his decision to go along with Gaea's offer. Why should he trust her? This was the woman that killed his parents, no, _murdered _them. What if this was a plan to kill him?

Percy didn't think so, though. If Uranus, Pontus, Nyx, and Gaea wanted to kill him, they could've done it there and then. But still, why would they suddenly come up with that offer, and why would Gaea risk being caught?

But still, if he did accept that offer, it wasn't the powers he was after. It was the ability to communicate with the dead and the power to make others immortal that he was seeking. Then, he could talk to his mother again, Bianca Di Angelo, Zoe Nightshade, and all of his deceased friends.

He could also make his friends immortal. Live forever happily with each other, live forever with Piper. He knew it was stupid to fall in love so quickly with someone, but he felt as if Piper wasn't going to break his heart, like Annabeth. Piper had her heart broken, too, so she knew how it felt.

And plus, did Percy mention that she was smart, beautiful, cute, sexy, hot, dainty, funny, charming, or _absolutely _lovely?

There was going to be an Olympian war council meeting later, so Percy decided to tell everyone there that he would be leaving for a vacation for eight months or so. If asked, Percy decided to tell them that he would be spending his time at Poseidon's palace and train, or something along the lines of that.

"Great," Percy muttered as he threw on a Camp Half-blood shirt and jeans, "I have a battle plan."

* * *

Later that day, **PERCY **walked with **PIPER **to the big house, holding hands and chatting about random things. When they sat down around the ping-pong table, Chiron began a boring speech about how Hades has sensed some unrest in Tatarus and raised maximum level security. Almost all the demigods were resting their heads on their hands, all except for Annabeth, who was listening to Chiron's speech attentively.

"All right, so that's about it. Does anyone have any announcements?" Chiron asked, glancing around the room.

"Capture the Flag is tomorrow," Clarisse mentioned nonchalantly. Annabeth's face fell. They all knew the rules. Whoever remembered to mention it first gets to pick the first cabin for their team.

Chiron sighed. "Who do you want on your team, Clarisse? And which side?" He pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen.

"I want the Poseidon cabin and the lake side," Clarisse said. "A nearly perfect defense strategy. Have Prissy over there sit in the lake, put the flag on the island in the lake, and then have Prissy blast anyone who comes near with water."

Annabeth sighed. It was a simple yet effective plan.

"Oh, yeah…" Percy said suddenly. "I can't go to the CTF game. Sorry."

"What?" Clarisse asked. She looked like she was about to rip Percy's head off and then eat him.

Percy continued warily. "Poseidon IM'd me this morning, he told me that he wanted me at his palace by six tonight, so… thought this was a good time to mention it."

"How long would you be gone?" Piper asked. Annabeth refrained from bursting into laughter. _Stupid Piper being worried about how long Percy would be gone, _Annabeth thought, jealous.

Percy mumbled, "Eight months."

One of Piper's eyebrows shot up, and anger flashed through her eyes.

"What _are _you doing there?" Katie asked.

"I don't know," Percy continued lying. "He didn't say."

Chiron sighed. Percy knew that Chiron knew that he was lying. Chiron monitored all of the IMs going into camp and out. "Alright, children. Stop pestering poor Percy with all these questions."

"Would anybody like to say anything?" Chiron asked. When no one said anything, he smiled and said, "Council dismissed."

Percy was the first one to walk out of the big house. He didn't want to explain to Chiron the situation, but he _especially _didn't want to run into Piper. He didn't make it far, though. He was so close to the water when he was suddenly grabbed from behind and tackled on the sand.

"Pipes, why so rough?" Percy asked. Piper sat down in his lap and crossed her arms. Her body molded into his.

"Why are you suddenly leaving?" Piper asked. She leaned down and held her lips tantalizingly close to Percy's.

Percy reached up and gently rolled them to the side, so they were lying side by side in the sand. He reached one arm around her and pulled her close, so her head was nestled in his neck.

"Poseidon told me—"

"Achoo!" Piper mimicked a sneezing sound.

"Why'd you sneeze?" Percy asked. "Are you allergic to something?"

"No," Piper said, "I just have an allergic reaction to bullcrap."

Percy laughed and hugged her tightly, nearly stifling the poor girl in his death grip. When they broke apart, Piper propped an elbow on Percy's chest and whispered, "Don't think you're off the hook, mister. Tell me why."

After deciding whether or not to tell her, Percy decided to tell her only _half _of the truth. "Well, Pipes," said Percy. He gently stroked her hair. "I was given an offer I couldn't refuse."

"So you're leaving me for an offer," Piper assumed.

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Don't jump to conclusions, Pipes. I'm not _leaving _you, for Zeus's sake. I don't see why anyone would leave you, Pipes."

Piper glowed with pleasure. But then, the smile on her face was wiped off suddenly. "Jason did."

"Screw Jason. In a way, I'm glad he did," Percy said. Piper raised an eyebrow and Percy smiled. "Otherwise, I wouldn't be here with you."

Piper laughed gently. "You know, I started to like you before I broke up with Jason."

"Oh?" Percy had a ghost of a smile on his face.

"Well, when the Argo II landed, you kinda walked up to me and shook hands with me, and I thought, wow. I wasn't surprised that you were a descendent of a greek god, and it seemed like you _were _a greek god. Or at least, you had the looks of a greek god." Piper blushed when she said this.

Percy couldn't help but smile. Piper continued. "And then I realized why Annabeth was freaking out those eight months you were gone."

At the mention of this, Percy's eyes glowed dangerously. "She was?"

"Yeah," muttered Piper, regretting bringing this up, "She really loved you back then."

Percy nodded and quickly said, "So, what were you saying?"

Piper rolled her eyes. "As I was saying, I realized why Annabeth was freaking out those eight months you were gone. Because, when I looked into your eyes as I shook your hand, and you looked back into mine..."

"Well?" Percy asked, a smile flickering his lips.

"Well," Piper muttered, "I was captivated. I loved that feeling of captivation, and I knew that from then on, I would be willing to do anything to keep that feeling. I was angry when you and Annabeth just kissed when you two were reunited and I knew I had no right to be angry. But there were moments when you would glance at me from across the room, and I would get that feeling of captivation when I stared into your eyes. And I finally got it back, I finally got the feeling of captivation back yesterday when you kissed me."

Percy remained silent, drinking in what Piper had told him.

"And," Piper added, smiling gently, "I knew without that feeling of captivation, I would probably go insane."

After a while of silence, Piper said, "We've strayed from the topic. What was the offer?"

Percy quickly thought of the reason why he accepted the offer. "You and me. Immortality. Forever."

Piper blushed a bright red and her forever-changing eyes glistened. "Really?"

"Yeah," Percy whispered. "You and me." Percy gently caressed Piper's cheek.

"But why eight months? And who gave you the offer?" Piper asked, desperate for answers.

"Frankly, I don't know why eight months, but as for the person who gave me the offer… well," Percy smirked. "Let's just say that she's a powerful person."

Piper nodded, accepting the fact that Percy won't tell her. Percy looked down at his watch and panicked. "Oh crap, I got to go now."

"Not without giving me another kiss," Piper mumbled. Percy grinned and gave her a long, soft kiss that melted Piper's brain. And when Percy pulled away, Piper was hungry for more.

"Bye Pipes," Percy whispered.

"See ya' in eight months, I guess," Piper said. Percy nodded and got up to leave. "Please come back."

"Of course I will," Percy said with a smile. "Gotta build a house on the waves for you and me, right?"

Piper absolutely glowed.

* * *

"You're late," Gaea said to **PERCY**.

"Oh, I was saying goodbye to Piper," Percy mentioned casually.

Pontus rolled his eyes. "Close your eyes, Percy, unless you want to get vaporized."

Percy shut his eyes tight. He heard a sizzle and a bright flash blinded him, even though his eyes were shut. When he finally opened his eyes, they were all in the middle of the woods. Five log cabins stood next to each other, one was a dark brown, for Gaea, Percy assumed.

Another was pitch black, for Nyx. To the left was a dark blue cabin, for Pontus, and even further left was a bright white one for Uranus. They all seemed to be one-story buildings. Percy walked into the sea green cabin which he assumed was his, and inside he found a comfortable-looking bed, with five couches shaped in a pentagon. No kitchen. Apparently you didn't eat in this dimension.

"Lesson one," Nyx suddenly said, appearing right beside him. "Don't always think your assumptions are true, and especially don't act on an assumption. You are in my house right now."

"I'm sorry, Lady Nyx," Percy said politely, quite embarrassed.

Nyx smiled. "Please, no formalities. Call me Nyx."

Percy nodded and walked outside. He looked at all the cabins there, a sea green, a black, a dark blue, a brown, and a white. He didn't know which one was which. Gaea, Pontus, and Uranus were all waiting for him outside.

"Which cabin is yours?" Gaea asked, gesturing towards the four remaining cabins.

_I'm going to guess the black one, _Percy thought. "The black one?"

"Nope, that's mine," Uranus answered, and he walked into the black cabin.

"Don't act upon guesses, either," Gaea said. "We'll burn down your cabin if you don't get your cabin correct."

Percy started freaking out. He had to get more information about the cabins, but how? He studied every cabin, and on the roof of Uranus's cabin was a lightning bolt formation made of lighter black bricks. He looked at the remaining cabins, the brown, the blue, and the white one.

The blue cabin had a palm tree sticker on the door. "I'm going to go ahead and say that the blue one is Gaea's," Percy said.

Gaea smiled and walked into her own cabin. There was only the white one and the brown one left. When Percy looked at the white one, he saw that it was unmarked, so he said, "That white one is mine."

The brown cabin burst in flames. Panicked, Percy realized that he screwed up as he tried to put out the fire. There was no water nearby, and he couldn't feel any wells underneath them.

"DAMN IT!" Percy shouted, and Pontus chuckled. Now Nyx, Uranus, and Gaea walked out of their cabins.

"Percy, if you would have cared to look at the brown cabin more carefully, you would've seen that it had your name written on the front door," said Pontus. He laughed a long, robust laugh.

Nyx walked up to Percy. "You see, the lesson here is to always be observant. Don't always guess."

"You're sleeping on the cold, hard ground until you build another cabin," Gaea said.

"Next lesson: Patience," Uranus told Percy. "Build yourself another cabin." The four left Percy and walked into their respective cabins. Percy could hear the sound of bolts and locks clicking.

Percy's jaw fell on the ground. All he had was Riptide to build a cabin? Gods, this was going to take forever! He reached into his pocket, but he couldn't feel the pen. _Great, now I'm going to have to find a new weapon _and _build a cabin._

_Percy, _Nyx's voice said in his head, _we'll eventually get you a weapon. The first year you are here, you are going to learn to control and master your emotions. Second year, we are going to teach you how to use all the major weapon categories better than anyone else, such as sword, spear, halberd, axe, knife, unarmed combat, staff, and bow and arrow._

_ The bow and arrow? Good luck, _Percy responded.

Nyx ignored Percy and continued. _Third year you are going to _truly _master the water and ocean. You will be taught how to conjure storms and how to summon water from anywhere. Control over ice will be included._

_ Sweet, _Percy thought.

Percy could picture Nyx rolling her eyes. _As I was saying, fourth year will be fire with me._

_How is that possible? I thought you were all about shadows and dark stuff, _Percy asked.

_What creates shadows_? Nyx asked, patiently.

_ Light. Fire, actually, I guess, _Percy answered.

_Bingo, _Nyx replied. _So I'm going to teach you how to master fire, become resistant to heat and cold, how to swim in lava, become unburnable and stuff like that. I will also teach you how to use shadows to your advantage, and how to shadow travel._

Percy nodded. He was just sitting in the ruins of the cabin he should be in right now. Then he wondered why he was nodding when Nyx couldn't see him.

_Gaea is going to teach you in your fifth year. She's going to teach you how to manipulate the earth, like suddenly raise a shield of earth to protect yourself from arrows and how to cause earthquakes. Sixth year is learning the powers of lightning with Uranus, stuff like how to generate lightning with your fists and how to manipulate the wind currents to your favor, but you still can't fly, _Nyx chuckled. _Sorry to disappoint._

_ Darn it, _Percy thought. _That would've been cool._

_ Seventh year would be refinement on your skills. Eighth year we'll teach you how to communicate with the dead and how to make others immortal, _Nyx recited.

_Great, _Percy thought. _And all this is only eight months in the normal world?_

_ Yeah, _Nyx answered. _Also, you don't need to eat food or drink water. Now start building that cabin. If I were you, I'd just make a teepee because it would be faster. You don't need a living room; you just need shelter and a place to sleep._

_ Thanks, _Percy thought. _I appreciate it._

Percy thought of how to make the teepee. He saw a tall tree with sturdy-looking branches.

Percy started to climb the nearest tree. To collect the branches, Percy had to kick repeatedly to snap the branches. When he had collected enough, it was dark. There was no moon to help Percy see, so he couldn't do anything. He lay down on the cold, hard ground and realized that this was what they were trying to do. The primordials told Nyx to make it nighttime, so Percy had to wait until the morning to build the teepee.

Percy couldn't fall asleep though, so he thought about why Gaea would suddenly offer him this offer. Did the primordials have some sinister plan? He was their biggest enemy, why did they want to make him stronger?

Maybe they were trying to help Olympus, for once. Maybe they knew that something was brewing and that they were training him to be prepared for it. Percy rolled over and smashed his forehead against some rubble. He couldn't even see his hands, it was that dark.

Then he realized something: Percy couldn't fall asleep. There was dust and dirt in the air. They were going to make him _wait_ for sunrise?

Oh gods. This was going to be a _long _night.

* * *

** PIPER **was at the Apollo cabin's campfire sing-a-long. She was sitting on the outer rim of logs, alone, gently humming the tune to the song. She was still a little sore over Percy leaving, but she guessed that it would be okay. He was only leaving for eight months, right? Nothing bad could happen, right?

The woman who offered him the offer was probably was some Olympian. And plus, when Percy came back he'd make her immortal along with him. They could live forever through the ages, together. That was something to look forward to.

Piper hoped that nobody tried to sabotage her relationship with Percy.

Annabeth sat down next to Piper. "Hey Pipes."

Piper stiffened. No one except for Percy or her dad can call her that. "Hi Annabeth."

Annabeth was straight to the point. "So why is Percy leaving?" She heard the conversation, but she needed confirmation from Piper. Piper sighed and told Annabeth what Percy had said. She left out the part when he told Piper that he loved her.

"He's taking things really fast with you," Annabeth said. "It took him a few years to realize that I had feelings for him and another few years for him to tell me that he loved me."

"Well it took him a day for me," Piper commented rather smugly.

Annabeth nodded, her expression turning sour. "Look, Piper? Can I talk to you about something private? Maybe we could go to the beach."

"Yeah sure, Annabeth," Piper said. The two girls headed towards the beach. Piper noticed that Annabeth was walking rather slowly, staring at the ground and fiddling around with her fingers. Once they were there, they plopped down on the sand.

"What's up, Annabeth?" Piper asked.

Annabeth looked at Piper, tears brimming on her eyes. _Oh gods no, _Piper thought. _I… don't need to be caught in this again._

"He really does love you, doesn't he?" Annabeth asked.

Piper shrugged. "One could say so."

"Do you love him back?"

Piper thought about it carefully. Did she? Definitely. She knew it was folly to fall in love after the first date, but she couldn't help it. He was so charming and sweet. "Yeah."

"Do you think you have a chance?"

"What does that mean?" demanded Piper. She said this with more venom than she intended. "I'm his girlfriend!"

Annabeth flinched. Her voice remained calm and even. "So? I was his girlfriend, and I was tossed away because I made a mistake."

_Well, it was a pretty damn big mistake, _Piper thought. "You regret it, don't you?"

Annabeth remained silent for a while. She appeared to be deep in thought, but then she suddenly burst into tears. "I do," Annabeth cried. "I want him back so much!"

Um, hello? You're talking to Percy's new girlfriend!

Piper nodded awkwardly. "He forgave you. I think that that's already pretty good. I mean, you guys are still friends, right?"

"We don't even talk anymore… last time I talked to him was when I asked him for one last kiss days ago," Annabeth mumbled.

Piper played with her hair. She always did this when she was uncomfortable. "Well, he is a good kisser…"

Annabeth laughed bitterly and wiped the tears from her face.

The two girls sat in silence, watching the waves slosh upon the shore. The moon wasn't visible; a dark cloud covered the sky. The sound of the waves soothed Piper. She relaxed and laid down on the sand. A pale beam of moonlight shone through the cloud, but then it disappeared as suddenly as it came.

Piper wondered why Annabeth thought that she didn't have a chance.

* * *

High up in Olympus, **APHRODITE** sat in her palace, watching the two girls talk. Her appearance changed from last time, now she had straight, dark brown hair and kaleidoscopic eyes. She was also slightly shorter than her preference, and her skin the usual milky white.

In a way, she looked just like Piper, her favorite daughter.

She smiled into the mirror. Aphrodite decided to go without makeup for a while. Truth is, she looked as beautiful and as stunning as she always did, except it was beautiful and stunning in a different way. Aphrodite wasn't going for sexy or hot. She was going for natural and beautiful.

Just the way Percy Jackson liked it.

Her lips curled when she thought of him. Percy was away from Camp Half-blood for eight months, and when he came back, he'll make Piper his immortal bride. So Aphrodite had a time limit.

She had eight months to make Piper fall in love with another person.

* * *

**Yeah. I'm going to go there.**

**Just to explain, Percy is currently in a different dimension. One year in Percy's dimension is a month in Piper's. Got it? Good.**

Review!


	8. Drugged

Perseus: Master of the Elements

**DRUGGED**

_Percy started to climb the nearest tree. To collect the branches, Percy had to kick repeatedly to snap the branches. When he had collected enough, it was dark. There was no moon to help Percy see, so he couldn't do anything. He lay down on the cold, hard ground and realized that this was what they were trying to do. The primordials told Nyx to make it nighttime, so Percy had to wait until the morning to build the teepee._

_Percy couldn't fall asleep though, so he thought about why Gaea would suddenly offer him this offer. Did the primordials have some sinister plan? He was their biggest enemy, why did they want to make him stronger?_

_Maybe they were trying to help Olympus, for once. Maybe they knew that something was brewing and that they were training him to be prepared for it. Percy rolled over and smashed his forehead against some rubble. He couldn't even see his hands, it was that dark._

_Then he realized something: Percy couldn't fall asleep. There was dust and dirt in the air. They were going to make him wait for sunrise?_

_Oh gods. This was going to be a _long_ night._

**- Ω -**

**PERCY** sat within his teepee, feeling incredibly proud of himself. It had taken Percy four hours to break the branches into equal lengths and to find the right-sized leaves to cover the frame, but in the end, he still did it.

In the teepee there was just barely enough space to lie down, but that's good enough for Percy. He got out of the teepee to find Nyx standing there, with her hands on her hips.

"You know, I don't think wearing this one toga," Percy said, tugging at the white toga that the Primordials gave him, "For eight years in a row is going to be so smart."

Nyx rolled her eyes and started to walk off towards an arena that seemingly appeared overnight. "This is an alternate dimension. You don't need to eat, drink, and your body doesn't age."

Percy nodded thoughtfully and followed Nyx.

Once inside the arena, all Percy saw was a comfy-looking chair and a few needles on a tray. Gaea was standing there, and Pontus and Uranus was nowhere to be seen. Nyx pointed her finger at the chair and Percy sat down in it. The earth rose from the ground and wrapped itself around Percy's hands and feet. Gaea picked up a needle from the tray and prepared to inject Percy with whatever was inside the needle.

Percy didn't feel comfortable in this situation at all and stared at the needle warily. "What's in that?"

After all, Gaea was Percy's enemy in one of the wars he fought in, and now he was stuck trapped in a chair with Gaea about to inject him with a needle. Gaea laughed and gently tapped her finger on the needlepoint. "Well, now begins the start of your psychological training. Inside this needle is a drug, Chimera, that enhances your emotions."

Chimera did not sound like something he wanted inside of him. "What does that mean?" Percy asked.

"Any emotion you think, like anger, happiness, or remorse is multiplied by ten, so the feeling is more intense. We want you to try to control your emotions," Gaea answered.

Percy nodded. "So you mean—"

Gaea interrupted him by stabbing the needle into his arm and injecting him with Chimera. Percy's pupils dilated and he started shivering all over. Waves of emotions washed over him, emotions that he didn't feel suddenly came to him. He felt fear, fear of the situation that he was in.

"Okay, let's get this show on the road," Nyx muttered, and she materialized a table out of nowhere. Then she put a computer on the table and went into Microsoft PowerPoint and selected a presentation. A picture popped up on the screen.

Percy stared at the picture and drooled slightly. A dazzling woman with dark brown hair and kaleidoscopic eyes smiled at him, her bright white teeth glowed. She was Aphrodite. An overcoming sense of lust and desire swept over him and his mind blanked out.

"What do you feel like doing?" Gaea asked. She whipped out a pencil and a notebook.

Percy stared at Gaea seriously and pointed at the computer. "Her."

Gaea scribbled his answer down and whispered to Nyx. "He's not even trying. He's completely forgotten about his girlfriend."

"Okay Percy," Nyx said. "Try to fight against the emotions."

Percy nodded._ What are you doing? _Percy's brain demanded. _You have a girlfriend, and it doesn't matter how… insanely beautiful and sexy Aphrodite is…_

Percy shuddered, a wave of lust and desire washed over his body. His hormones went wild, and he tried to fight against it; he nearly succeeded, but the sense of lust was too overwhelming. Percy relaxed and closed his eyes and imagined the things that he would do to Aphrodite.

Nyx stared at Percy. She could see into his mind. "Okay, next slide."

A picture of Gabe Uglaino popped onto the screen. Percy's eyes seemed to freeze, and then something scary happened. They seemed to melt into a liquid; now Percy's eye was a bright, pure, liquid green. He growled in his chair and the arena started to shake, but then it subsided when Gaea raised her hand.

"So how do you feel right now?" Nyx asked.

Percy didn't reply. He was slightly shaking in his seat, hatred, no, absolute _loathing _coursing through his veins. This man had beat his mother, possibly the greatest mortal woman Percy had ever known, most likely ruined her life for a little while, and yet he _still _didn't get the punishment he deserved. Gabe had died far too easily. He didn't deserve the easy death of turning into stone, Gabe deserved to have his arms and legs ripped off, castrated, and then burnt alive.

Nyx shuddered. She had seen what Percy had imagined, and she was slightly repulsed. "Percy, try to quell your hatred and anger."

Percy thought about it. The drug pounded through his veins and his heart raced. Gabe was already dead, so isn't that good enough for Percy? Shouldn't he be happy with the way events played out? _No, _Percy's brain told him. _He didn't deserve how easily he died._

Nyx rolled her eyes. "This isn't working out. I think we should start without the drug."

"Okay, give him the antidote," Gaea said. She picked up a needle with a blue liquid inside of it and handed it to Nyx.

Nyx walked up to Percy and injected him with the antidote. Percy's body started burning up, and his eyes returned to his normal state. He started shaking violently and suddenly, his eyes rolled to the top of his head and Percy passed out.

"I'm pretty sure that we _shouldn't _have done this," Gaea murmured. "We should return to this training after a few years in this dimension."

Chimera has never been used before, this was the first time that Gaea had tried using it. It was generally supposed to be used for torture purposes during the Giants War, but the war ended faster than Gaea had thought.

"You think?" Nyx asked, incredulously.

* * *

**APHRODITE **walked into the Aphrodite cabin, looking for her daughter, **PIPER**. Aphrodite's straight, dark brown hair ran down to the bottom of her tight white blouse and her kaleidoscopic eyes, which now she liked better than her typical brown eyes, seemed to glow. Her movement was partially hindered by how tight her skinny jeans were and the UGG Boots she wore weren't summer material.

It was midsummer, and Aphrodite was burning up.

She flashed a smile at Drew, and asked, "Drew dear? Where's Piper?"

Without bothering to look up from her magazine, Drew answered. "She's at the beach. I guess it makes her feel closer to _Percy._"

"Thanks, honey," Aphrodite muttered, and quickly started walking towards the beach.

She felt self-conscious without her makeup on. Aphrodite felt like a whole new person without it. She just wasn't used to it. Ever since makeup was invented, Aphrodite _always _had some on, no matter what the occasion.

Aphrodite still turned many heads, girls and boys alike. That helped her confidence a little bit. _Not that I need it, _she thought. Well, it also helped that Aphrodite was wearing the necklace that Hephaestus forged her. The necklace was a little bit like her magic girdle; it helped inflame other men's desire for her.

She didn't wear her girdle because it only matched her clothes when she wore a white dress or a white toga. Otherwise, it made her look rather odd, but the necklace she wore wherever she went. One of the many perks of being the bride of Hephaestus.

Aphrodite found Piper sitting on the sand, and every time a wave came, it would barely get her toes wet. Aphrodite plopped down next to Piper and waited for Piper to acknowledge her.

Contrary to what most people would tell you, Aphrodite was a very patient goddess. She was willing to wait many years for a man to fully grow into his greatest potential. It was the same thing with relationships. Aphrodite would wait patiently for the perfect opportunity to arise, and then she would interfere just a _tiny _bit.

It was just like with Percy and Piper.

Really, without her intervention, Percy and Piper would really have never been a thing. And as horrible as it is, Aphrodite kind of wished that she had never intervened. Otherwise, Percy would never have figured out that Annabeth was cheating on him; Aphrodite knew that Piper didn't have the guts to tell Percy.

Then, Aphrodite could have told Percy, comforted Percy just like Piper did, earned his heart the hard way.

There were two ways to get a man to love you, well, that's what Aphrodite thought. One way, the easy way, was to simply seduce the man and get what you wanted. However, the other way was to slowly, ever so slowly, make progress with him. Go from friend to best friend, then try to evolve into something more.

Of course, since Aphrodite was the Goddess of Love and Pleasure, typically the first way was easier for her. _However, _Percy Jackson was not like a typical man.

Aphrodite was jolted back to reality when Piper gently punched her shoulder. Apparently Piper had been calling her name for a while now, and Aphrodite was too deep in her own thoughts to hear her.

"I'm sorry, dear," Aphrodite apologized sincerely. "What did you say?"

"I was just asking what you were doing here, mom," Piper answered.

Aphrodite frowned. "What, can't a mother spend time with her daughter?"

"Well, you have six other daughters," Piper muttered darkly.

Aphrodite's frown deepened. She didn't need to be reminded of how much of a slut she was. "What did you say, Piper?"

"Nothing." Piper faked a smile.

"So, how's it going between you and _Percy_?" Aphrodite asked. "Have you two… I don't know… like done anything?"

"What do you mean?" Piper responded quickly and defensively.

"Like if Artemis offered you a position in the Hunt," said Aphrodite, "would you be able to accept?"

Piper's face flushed a deep red. Aphrodite couldn't tell whether she was mad or just embarrassed.

"We've only been on one date_,_" Piper hissed through gritted teeth.

Aphrodite was a tad bit relieved. She wanted to be Percy's first and whatever the Goddess of Love wanted, she _got. _"Well, you're already in love with him and it's only been one _date._"

Piper's face turned even a brighter red. "Why would you think that I love him?"

"Hello?" Aphrodite laughed. "I'm the Goddess of _Love._ It's all around camp. You guys were _so _cute after the Fourth of July."

"Whatever," Piper murmured. She turned her gaze back towards the sea.

"How long has he been gone?" Aphrodite asked.

"Well now, it's only been four days, but still…" Piper's voice trailed off, and she had a faraway look in her eyes.

Aphrodite nodded. She was pondering on how to convince Piper to break up with Percy. It was cruel, yes, but it was necessary. No matter what she did to Percy, he wouldn't break up with Piper; his flaw was Personal Loyalty. But she can get Piper to break up with him…

"I miss him already."

Aphrodite was once again jolted back to reality. She nodded and gently slung an arm around her daughter's shoulder. Aphrodite did love Piper; she loved her with all her heart, yet Aphrodite was still willing to manipulate and use her.

_I'm a horrible mother, _Aphrodite thought. A single tear threatened to drop, but she destroyed it by blinking her eye rapidly.

"Piper…"

"Yes, mom?" Piper turned to look at her mother, and was startled to see Aphrodite's kaleidoscopic eyes and straight, brown hair.

"Do you really believe Percy is a good choice for you?" Aphrodite asked, feigning innocence in her voice.

Piper looked insulted. "Of course, mom."

"Why?"

Piper put on her thinking cap. "Well, Percy certainly has an excellent character. He'd loyal, selfless, brave, and reliable. He's really smart and really funny, and he knows what to say at the right time."

"That's it?" Aphrodite demanded. "You're missing one critical point."

"_Of course_, how could I forget?" Piper said sarcastically. "His looks are greater than that of a Greek god."

Aphrodite agreed. She had nearly said, 'So that's why he deserves a Greek goddess.'

The two sat in an uncomfortable silence for a while. Aphrodite thought about how to convince Piper to break up with Percy. Maybe find her another boy? Leo Valdez, maybe. This would boost her relationship with Hephaestus, just like when Silena was with Charles. Yes, that was it. Get her to like Leo Valdez. Daughters of Aphrodite with sons of Hephaestus strangely made great couples.

Zeus, she was ruthless.

_This is war, _Aphrodite thought. _You're fighting a war on multiple fronts; one with Piper and one with Annabeth. All you have to do is to make sure Annabeth doesn't have any extended interactions with Percy and focus on Piper._

A cold, hard glint appeared in her eyes.

All the pieces on the chessboard have been moved. The pawns, little love interests, have been used, such as girls like Rachel, Bianca, or Calypso, girls that never really stood a chance. The rooks have been exhausted (Annabeth and Piper), and now it was time for the queen to come into play.

Aphrodite didn't give a damn about how Piper felt. All she wanted was Percy, and whatever the Goddess of Love wanted, she _got._

* * *

Review!


	9. Training

**EDITED: 8/17/2012**

* * *

Perseus: Master of the Elements

**TRAINING**

_Nyx walked up to Percy and injected him with the antidote. Percy's body started burning up, and his eyes returned to his normal state. He started shaking violently and suddenly, his eyes rolled to the top of his head and Percy passed out._

_"I'm pretty sure that we shouldn't have done this," Gaea murmured. "We should return to this training after a few years in this dimension."_

_Chimera has never been used before, this was the first time that Gaea had tried using it. It was generally supposed to be used for torture purposes during the Giants War, but the war ended faster than Gaea had thought._

_"You think?" Nyx asked, incredulously._

**- Ω -**

**PERCY** woke with a start on a cozy bed. He felt warm and mushy, and his vision was foggy. With a groan, Percy lifted himself up from the bed, and he promptly fell out of the bed. That did not help his growing headache. He rested his head on the edge of the bed and focused on _not _vomiting.

Percy's head felt like it had been smacked by one of Leo's sledgehammers.

"Finally out of dream land?" a female voice muttered. Percy slowly turned his head around and found Nyx sitting on the couch, reading a book. Her face looked like a Greek statue: beautiful and cold.

"Yeah, I had this dream about Piper," Percy snapped, feeling somewhat crummy and annoyed. In the dream, he had seen Piper and Jason kiss, with Leo and the Argo II in the background. They were in Bunker 9, and there was a golden net that looked _shockingly _familiar containing some drunk-looking nymphs of some sort. (**A/N: This was in the Demigod Diaries. They didn't actually kiss, though.**)

So she had lied about never kissing a boy.

Percy knew he had no right to be mad about this; after all, Piper _was _Jason's girlfriend during the prophecy, but after that was over Jason returned to Camp Jupiter and went back to Reyna. Jason didn't officially break up with Piper, but everyone assumed he did when he kissed Reyna publically during the ceremony. Percy was there because he had to give Jason the Praetor outfit and stuff.

And plus, he had made out with Annabeth countless times. Everyone thought that he and Annabeth were meant to be, but truth is, Percy felt something for Piper that he never felt for in Annabeth. Some part of him always felt as if Annabeth was _just _a friend, even though the other part of him loved her dearly. But with Piper, it seemed as if he had loved her with all his essence.

It was weird, actually. Percy had fallen in love with Piper after one date, when it took a few years and one war for Percy to fall in love with Annabeth. He actually didn't know much about Piper's past, he probably knew less than Jason or Leo, but the things Percy did know about Piper were the little details. Like her cute freckles, or the twinkle in her eyes that she'd get when he looked at her.

Percy and Piper were never even considered a _possibility. _Everybody thought that if Jason _did _break up with Piper, which was _highly _unlikely (but still happened), she's probably get with Leo. After all, they were really good friends and Leo's a pretty awesome guy.

Really, Percy and Piper's relationship seemed to be something that even the Fates didn't foresee. It was something completely unnatural, something that shouldn't have happened, but still happened. Percy wasn't the type of guy who fell in love in a few days, yet here he was, daydreaming about the girl who had stolen his heart. And also, Percy would _never _of thought that Annabeth would cheat on him. Nobody did.

It was confusing.

The thing is, Percy didn't believe that Annabeth had been with that Davis guy since the Titan War. It just wasn't possible. Percy refused to believe it. It seemed as if someone, maybe a goddess, had messed with her memories, because Annabeth isn't the type of person to do something like that.

He was interrupted from his reverie when his toga caught on fire.

Percy screamed like a little girl. The fire completely burnt off his toga, andPercy was so thankfulthat he was wearing his boxers. That is, until he looked at a wide-eyed, very red Nyx and a cold draft blew threw his Netherlands.

Percy gave another girly shriek and wrapped the blanket around his lower regions. "I-I'm sorry, Nyx," Percy muttered.

Nyx blinked. "Don't be… well, you weren't answering when I called your name and you seemed to be unconscious so…"

A tiny, apologetic smile appeared on her face.

"It's okay, I guess. How long have I been out?" Percy asked, trying to make the situation less awkward.

"Well," Nyx replied rather quickly, glad for a subject change, "You've been out for two months. You've missed out on—"

"WHOA," Percy interrupted. "Two months in this dimension, or two months in the other dimension?"

Nyx gulped nervously. "You were out for two years here, and two months there."

Percy's face paled. His headache was now cleared, and Percy saw that he was inside of Nyx's cabin. "WHAT? What drug did you guys put me on?"

"Gaea didn't test it," Nyx said, a look of annoyance crossing her face. "Apparently it is very poisonous to a mortal's system. You were almost killed."

Percy opened his mouth and then closed it.

"Well, you're late on the weapons training," Nyx remarked. "Uranus and Pontus has been waiting a _long _two years for this, and you should probably hurry your ass down to the arena. We're not going to be able to let you _fully _master the elements these eight months, but you will be able to come back to finish your training."

Wait. Why couldn't Percy just stay a while longer to fully master the elements? Was something going to go wrong in the real world when his eight months are up? Did the Olympians need him again?

"Oh yeah, I'll close my eyes, and you put on the toga that's on the bed."

Percy turned around and spotted the toga. He put it on, told Nyx it was okay to look, and hurried his arse down to the arena.

* * *

Uranus and Pontus were sitting next to a rack of weapons, playing Monopoly.

Yes, that was right. Two Primordial Gods, and they were playing _Monopoly_, out of everything. When they spotted Percy, they grinned widely and pointed at the weapons rack.

"Pick your poison," Uranus said. "We're eventually going to have to go through all of these."

Much to Percy's dismay, the weapons rack consisted of only three weapons: a longbow, a weird halberd with a spiked ball at the butt, and a piece of paper with writing on it that said, 'Unarmed Combat.'

Percy pointed at the weird halberd, only because it looked interesting. It was basically a very large spear with an axe mounted on one side of it and on the opposite side was a large hook. The shaft of the halberd was charcoal black, and the spiked ball at the butt of the weapon was black, too, but the spikes were silver. The blades of the weapon were a darker shade of black, and Percy couldn't fathom what it was made out of.

When he inspected it closer, he found that it was taller It was probably eight feet in length and when he picked it up it was incredibly heavy.

"Gods!" Percy groaned, and he tried holding it in one hand. He failed miserably. "What's this thing made out of?"

"Chaotic Chrystal," Uranus said nonchalantly.

"Percy, the halberd, Calamity, is a two-handed weapon," Pontus said, shaking his head and chuckling. "The spear part is used for thrusting, the axe part is used for cutting and slicing. Usually, the spear is used to maim and the axe is used to kill.

"The hook you see," Pontus droned, pointing at the hook, "is used to pull people off their horses or to disarm people. And finally the spiked ball here is used as a quick counter. Say you just cut at someone who managed to parry your attack, instead of drawing back to cut again, you just swing the spiked ball around, completely catching the guy off guard.

"And if all hope is lost, gods forbid, you throw it."

_If I tried throwing it, it probably wouldn't even go five feet, _Percy thought.

"Here, let me demonstrate. We want you to use this weapon instead of a sword because Calamity is extremely versatile, and it just looks plain awesome," Uranus grinned. He took the halberd from Percy and a straw dummy appeared out of nowhere.

"Now observe carefully. You see how I have the weapon in front of me and my hands are in the middle, but they aren't right next to each other?"

Percy nodded.

"Okay. Make sure that the club is on your left, and the spear tip is on your right. Then, check your hands are like so- Percy took a mental snapshot –and bend your knees. Stay low to the ground," Uranus continued.

"If an enemy attacks your left, use your club side to deflect, and if he attacks your right, use your spear. A very useful combination is this: jab the enemy with the spear."

In one swift motion, Uranus penetrated the dummy's body.

"Then, pull out and swing your spiked ball into his chest," Uranus muttered. He pulled the spear tip out and swung the spiked ball straight into the dummy's torso and left a large crater on his body.

"Make sure you do this all very quickly. Then, swing your axe side straight at the neck for the kill."

Uranus quickly decapitated the dummy in one blow and handed Percy the halberd. "Pontus will teach you more sophisticated maneuvers. Follow him to where you will begin your training with Calamity."

Percy nodded and carried the heavy weapon on his shoulders. He followed Pontus out of the arena, and they headed into the forest. After a minute or so of walking, they reached a vast, open lake.

"We'll start our training underwater," Pontus said. He walked straight into the crystal clear water, and Percy, with a shrug, followed. The lake was incredibly clean; there was no pollution at all, yet Percy felt as if something was wrong. He realized that he couldn't control the water. Sure, Percy could still breathe in it, but he couldn't will it to make him move faster, and his movements were sluggish.

They reached the bottom of the lake soon. Pontus stopped and turned around to Percy. "Do you know why I brought you here?"

"Frankly? No," Percy replied, and he sat down on a rock. When he had taken a few practice swings the water resistance slowed him down.

"Down here, you can't control the water. You can't make it help you move faster. Instead, it will feel as if you weren't a son of Poseidon. The resistance in the water will slow you down and it'll make your halberd seem heavier. But after a while, the resistance won't even bother you and your halberd will seem weightless. That's the day when we move back to land. Understand?" Pontus explained.

Percy nodded, confused.

"Well then," Pontus said, a grin appearing on his face. A trident materialized out of nowhere and Pontus grabbed it.

"Come at me, bro."

* * *

It was a month and three weeks of constant underwater fighting before the water resistance no longer bothered Percy. Pontus had taught Percy all the dirty little secrets about the weapon, which Percy decided to call Calamity (just like Uranus).

Underwater, the weapon felt weightless in Percy's hands now, he was able to jab, slice, and cut at incredible speeds. Percy learned that you had to keep your opponent at least three feet away; otherwise Calamity was rendered useless. He also learned a lot of different combos.

When Percy disarmed Pontus, he was happy, jubilant, actually. After nearly two months of hard work he had finally defeated Pontus, and now they could move back on land. On the trek back to the arena, Percy felt stronger and faster than before. The weapon felt so light and balanced in his hands, in fact, it felt just like Riptide. An eight-foot-long Riptide.

Uranus was waiting for them. He had most likely heard Percy's triumphant cries of joy on the walk back.

"Congratulations, how'd you do it?" Uranus asked, and he took a seat on the ground.

"Well, I just got used to how he fought," Percy answered, with a smile on his face.

Uranus nodded. "Well, do you feel up to a real-world challenge?"

"Sure," said Percy without hesitation.

"Okay. So we're just going to go here," Uranus and Pontus climbed onto the seats, "and we're going to release the beasts."

"Beasts?" Percy asked quizzically.

To answer him, three arrows flew right past him. Percy instinctively ducked and rolled to the right, and when he turned around he saw a _very_ angry bull that stood up on two feet. Behind the Minotaur were two squads of Empousai, beautiful women with vampire-like features and screwed up legs. One squad held swords and the other had held arrows. There were probably eight Empousai in each squad, making a total of seventeen enemies.

Percy could see the arrows pointed at him, but they did not shoot. The monsters seemed to be in a defensive position, the Minotaur, too. He held his omega axe in a defensive pose. They were waiting for him.

Percy pondered what to do. They were giving him time to think.

The monsters were all in a triangle formation. The Minotaur was in front, the sword Empousai on the left, and the archers on the right. Percy's only hope was to run at the sword-wielding Empousai and kind of use the Minotaur as a shield against arrows. After Percy defeated that squad, he would move straight towards the archers, then the Minotaur.

"Great, I have a battle plan," Percy muttered.

"About time!" Pontus yelled. "In an actual battle, you wouldn't have- Pontus glanced down at a watch- two minutes and thirty-five seconds to think."

Percy ignored them and charged towards the left. Apparently the archers weren't very smart at all, because they fired and he heard a few arrows go into the Minotaur's back. When he reached the Empousai, he started doing this move called, 'The Whirlwind of Death.'

It was this neat thing that Pontus had taught Percy for fighting multiple enemies at once. Basically, Percy had to crouch down and spin Calamity over his head really fast, and Percy could do it _incredibly _fast.

He heard the satisfying shrieks of a few Empousai getting cleaved and decapitated. The remaining five Empousai were smart, they stayed out of the range of the weapon. He stopped whirling and started fighting them one on one, using the various combos that Pontus had taught him.

When Percy hit the last sword-wielding Empousai with his club like a baseball bat, he wondered why the Minotaur hadn't attacked his flank yet. A brutal roar answered Percy's question and the Minotaur attacked.

The omega axe swirled over Percy's head when he rolled to the right, towards the archers. Big mistake. He was met by an arrow to the shoulder. Blinded by pain, Percy quickly ripped the arrow out of his shoulder, slightly grunting in pain, and ran right at the reloading archers. The Minotaur was too slow to catch up to him.

It was a massacre. The eight Empousai didn't stand a chance. The problem, however, was the arrow wound. It hindered his weapon speed a bit, and he couldn't roll anymore. Percy quickly turned around and barely managed to block a powerful swing from the Minotaur.

Percy analyzed the way the Minotaur fought. The Minotaur focused only on strength, it took five seconds before it struck again. Percy switched to the offensive, and he decided to use Uranus's combo. He feinted towards the Minotaur, and like he expected, the Minotaur used a full swing to parry his attack. Then, Percy brought the club around right at his arm and completely smashed it off.

The Minotaur bellowed in pain. Percy quickly ended its misery by slicing its head off.

He heard clapping, and Uranus and Pontus jumped down from the seats. Percy's arrow wound was healed when Uranus put a hand on his shoulder. "Nice. Unarmed Combat begins tomorrow."

Percy's face fell. "No break?"

Uranus shook his head. "You were out for two years. This is our third year. You'll have only one month with Pontus and then we'll have you go straight to fire."

Percy nodded solemnly.

"Get a good night's sleep. You're going to need it."

* * *

Every day since he entered this dimension, Percy had a dream about Piper, and today wasn't an exception.

However, today's dream was a tad bit different.

He and Piper were sitting on the beach, a dark, magnificent sea swirling in the background. They laughed and hugged and kissed each other, looking at each other the way that lovers do. And next to them was a small, modest, blue cabin with sea-shell crusted walls. Lovely flowers and moonlace flourished upon a balcony on the second floor, and the joyful puffs of smoke rose from the chimney.

It seemed perfect. Percy and Piper's secret getaway, their home on the water.

* * *

Percy received a right cross to the face.

Then a punch to his breadbasket. When he doubled over in pain, he received a foot to the face. Percy staggered backwards, feeling his nose to see if it was broken. Strangely, it wasn't and he didn't feel any bruises on his face.

"You need to be more agile," Uranus said, cracking his fists. "You have the strength, but you don't have the speed."

Percy attacked again. He felt bad for engaging in a fistfight with his mentors, but apparently there was no lasting pain. If Percy did break a bone, Uranus promised that he would be able to heal it instantly.

Percy practiced using his left fist and legs more. He swung at Uranus with his right fist, and like he expected, Uranus deflected it. Then Percy aimed for Uranus's nose, but Uranus caught it with his other hand, twisted it downwards, and brutally kicked his elbow.

Percy groaned in pain. Uranus stopped and healed his broken left arm.

"See, what you did wrong there was that you weren't concentrating hard enough," Uranus said. "You didn't see that I deflected your right cross with only my left hand. You assumed that I had used two hands, so you thought that I was going to be wide open on the left side."

"Most likely it would've worked on a lesser opponent," Pontus said, resting his head against the arena wall.

Percy had already gotten the hang of fighting people with weapons unarmed. The trick was to get in close. But Percy had never really done any fist fighting before; he had always used Riptide.

Groaning, Percy stood up and got into a defensive stance.

This was going to take a _long _time.

* * *

Surprisingly, it only took one week of nearly 24/7 fighting until Percy had gotten Uranus in a chokehold. He only had four hours of sleep a day, and every single damn time he had that same dream about Piper.

Percy couldn't _wait _to go back to Camp Half-blood and see Piper. He still had another six years in this dimension. Now, Percy was in the arena, unarmed, and about to face whatever monster was about to come out of that gate.

Uranus grinned. "You are going to _love _this one."

The gates opened, and Percy assumed a defensive stance. He couldn't believe that they were going to make him fight some sort of monster without any weapons.

A large lion with the head of a woman approached Percy, but it didn't seem to want to attack him. Instead, the bright, green eyes studied him carefully, analyzing his physical attributes.

"Perseus Jackson…" the lion hissed. "We meet again."

_Oh crap, _Percy thought. _This better not be who he thought it was…_

"You didn't answer my questions last time!"

_The Sphinx. Gods, I'd rather have to fight some sort of Lydian Drakon than do this, _Percy thought.

"I have THREE riddles for you, Perseus!" the Sphinx said in a singsong voice. "If you don't answer them correctly, I will kill you!"

"Three riddles? But that's preposterous!" Percy complained.

The Sphinx cleared her throat.

"_What can run but never walks,_

_Has a mouth but never talks,_

_Has a head but never weeps,_

_Has a bed but never sleeps?_"

Percy sighed happily.

Annabeth had asked quizzed him on this before, it was in some sort of book that she really liked. If he answered the questions correctly, he wouldn't even have to use his fists. "A river."

The Sphinx raised its eyebrows.

"_The beginning of eternity,_

_The end of time and space,_

_The beginning of every end,_

_And the end of every place._"

Percy nodded thoughtfully.

He sincerely had no clue what the beginning of eternity was, nor the end of time and space. _Ha, it's the letter "e", _Percy joked. _Wait a second. The beginning of eternity is the letter "e." The end of time and space is the letter "e." The beginning of every end is also the letter "e," and the end of every place is an "e," too._

Percy grinned triumphantly. His weird sense of humor saved the day. "The letter 'e.'"

The Sphinx looked agitated.

"_Brothers and sisters I have none_

_But that man's father is my father's son._

_Who am I?_"

Percy tempted to say, 'What?'

_Okay, _Percy thought. _Brothers and sisters I have none. Okay. But that man's father is my father's son._

_ Okay, this is confusing. It's wordplay, and I'm dyslexic._

_ No, Percy, you can do it!_

_ That man's father is my father's son. Okay, so that man, A, his father is my father's, B, son. So that means A's father is the son of my father, B. So that means I'm the father of A, or that man. _Percy's started to get a headache. He wasn't sure if this made sense, but he decided to submit this as his answer.

"Uh, the father of that man." Percy said, his voice quivering.

For a moment the Sphinx didn't say anything. Then, she gave off a horrible screech and ran right at Percy. Percy rolled towards the right and the Sphinx sailed by him, crashing into the wall and dissolving into a pile of monster dust.

"We were expecting you to fail…" Pontus's voice trialed off into an awkward silence.

"Glad you guys trust my knowledge so much," Percy mumbled sarcastically and he sat down. He willed his heartbeat to slow down, the encounter with the Sphinx made him really nervous.

Uranus grinned. He materialized a black longbow and quiver out of nowhere, and Percy grimaced. He handed Percy the bow and the quiver, and he pointed at a large, white circle in the arena that Percy had never noticed. Inside the white circle was a tiny red circle, which Percy presumed was the bulls-eye.

"We're going to go straight into archery," Uranus said with a smile. "Let's see how you shoot."

Percy gripped his hand on the grip and notched an arrow in the string. He aimed the best he could at the white circle, pulled back, closed his eyes, and he shot.

* * *

"I don't even know how that got there," Pontus muttered, and he plucked an arrow out of his arm.

"Okay," Uranus winced while watching Pontus, "_This_, _this _is how you shoot an bow and arrow."

Uranus materialized a bow and showed him where to place his hands. "You see, you're supposed to turn like so- Percy mimicked Uranus- pull back like so and…"

_TWANG! _The arrow flew from Uranus's bow and landed straight into the red circle. A bullseye. Percy tried to do the same, and he hit the white circle.

"YES!" Percy roared. He danced a little jig and plucked another arrow from the quiver. Percy aimed for the red circle, and when he fired, the arrow landed only five inches away from it. "This is so easy! How could I have been bad at this?"

Uranus and Pontus rolled their eyes.

* * *

Two days of practice. That's how long it took for Percy to become a sharpshooter. His aim was probably only beaten by Apollo and his children. It also helped that the bow and the arrows were all very high quality compared to the ones they had at Camp.

It's quite easy, really. You just have to mind the weather and how far the target is.

Even from one hundred feet away, Percy hit the bullseye 7/10 times.

Gods, Percy was jubilant those days. Now nobody could tease him about his archery skills, but he probably wasn't as good at archery as the Hunters or the Apollo children. Percy grinned. Now his physical training was over. Pontus had told him to meet him at the bottom of the lake he was in.

The elemental segment of his training has begun.

* * *

**I always thought that Percy could get good at archery if he knew the correct form. I don't know.**

**Constructive criticism is appreciated.**

Review!


	10. Coup D'état

**EDITED: 8/26/2012**

* * *

Perseus: Master of the Elements

**COUP D'ÉTAT**

"No, I'm not going to do that."

The same female voice rang from the darkness of a New York alley. "I still can't believe I did _that._"

Another female answered her. "It's too late for regrets, Mnemosyne."

The Titaness of Memory grunted. "You made me break up your favorite couple, if I recall."

The other female laughed heartily, a melodic, musical laugh. The alleyway was dark except for the light coming from the street. Mnemosyne's face was half illuminated by the light and the other half was thrown into shadows. She could see the half the face of the other woman, a beautiful, flawless face, ruby red lips, full brown hair, and sparkling kaleidoscopic eyes.

"They're _not _my favorite couple," muttered Aphrodite. "Annabeth and Percy… definitely _not._"

"They were meant to be. Even the _Fates _wanted them to be together," Mnemosyne snapped.

Aphrodite laughed. "I screw with Fate."

"Evidently," Mnemosyne huffed. "You made me implant Annabeth's memory with false memories about this Davis kid."

"I know," Aphrodite said quietly. Another Olympian could've been watching. "I want you to do it again. With Piper."

A silence. Then: "No."

Aphrodite started. "Listen here, Mnemosyne—"

"You're sick, you know that?" Mnemosyne interrupted. "First you break Perseus's heart and it just got healed by your daughter. Then you're willing to break _them _up, just for _your _personal enjoyment? You're sick! Where's your motherly sense?"

Aphrodite grit her teeth. "How do you know about Percy and Piper?"

"I'm the Titaness of Memory!" Mnemosyne cried indignantly. "I know these things!"

"Ok," Aphrodite huffed. "But it's not for my _personal enjoyment_, it's—"

"For your personal gain," Mnemosyne finished for her.

One of Aphrodite's perfect eyebrows went up. "How so?"

"You want another Adonis, Aphrodite," Mnemosyne answered. "You grew sick and tired of Adonis after a while, so you had to find another man. And what other man than Perseus Jackson, Hero of Olympus twice over?"

"I—"

"You suggested the idea of _forcing _godhood onto him. Luckily, Poseidon shot it down."

"How do you even know these things?" Aphrodite asked, exasperated.

"I'm the damn Titaness of Memory!" Mnemosyne snapped.

Aphrodite huffed and looked away. She tucked a stray hair behind her ear and looked down at the ground, and a rogue tear threatened to slip. Try as she may, Aphrodite couldn't hold it in and it fell onto the ground. This didn't escape Mnemosyne's notice.

"Why are you crying?" Mnemosyne asked, her voice suddenly a lot softer.

"I wasn't _crying,_" snapped Aphrodite harshly.

Mnemosyne chuckled quietly. "I knew the gods are selfish, I just didn't know to what extent."

Before Aphrodite could respond, Mnemosyne continued. "You love your daughter, don't you?"

"Yes," answered Aphrodite in a tiny voice.

"Then _why _aren't you happy for your daughter?"

"Because I _want _Percy Jackson."

"Do you _need _Perseus Jackson? More than Piper needs him?"

"I-I…"

Mnemosyne laughed. "You know I would help you, Aph, under normal circumstances, but this is going too far. This is cruelty. One second you thought Percy and Annabeth were the _absolute best freaking thing in the world_, but then you come to me and ask me to implant Annabeth's memory with false memories, just to cause a little bit drama.

"Then it went too far. The memories defected; it gave Annabeth a completely new memory, a memory where she loved Davis. So Annabeth and Percy were ruined. Then, you decided, _for fun_, to have Percy and your daughter, Piper, get closer, and look at what happened then? It screwed up. You only meant for Percy and Piper to have a _fling_, a _one-night stand_, an _affair_, whatever you want to call it," Mnemosyne ranted.

"Once again: how do you know these things?" Aphrodite demanded.

"I told you! I'm the Titaness of Memory!"

"_Titaness__ of Memory my ass_," Aphrodite muttered darkly.

Mnemosyne rolled her eyes. "Come on, Aph, we are great friends. As a friend, I'm going to give you some advice."

"What is it?"

Mnemosyne took a deep breath. "I think you should stop trying to get Perseus, he loves Piper, he really does. I'm surprised how fast it happened, but—"

"They only fell in love that fast because of _me_," grumbled Aphrodite.

"As I was saying," Mnemosyne said, "if you continue this, he won't end up loving you, he'll hate you for screwing him over so many times. After all, his mother and step-dad are both dead. Have some pity for him."

Mnemosyne sighed sadly and continued. "So what I'm trying to say is, you should give up this vendetta for his love and just… I don't know… give the couple your blessing or something."

"I can't just _give up_," retorted Aphrodite hotly. "Whatever I want, I pretty damn much _get._"

And with that, in a bright flash of light, Aphrodite teleported to Olympus.

* * *

**PIPER **was surprised when an exhausted-looking horse carrying three equally exhausted-looking demigods appeared right next to the Big House.

Her surprise grew when she saw it was Jason, Frank, and Hazel. Then her surprise nearly exploded when the horse and the demigods fell face-first into the snow. Oh yeah, did Piper mention that it was February?

Luckily, Chiron showed up on the scene and a few kids from Apollo arrived soon after and carried them away. All the demigods have stayed at Camp, all two hundred-fifty of them, even though it was winter and they should've been at school.

It was too dangerous outside of the borders. When Percy was gone, things took a turn for the worse. During the Winter Solstice meeting, Hades had appeared along with Persephone and Nico bloody and fatigued, and it was revealed after a few drinks of nectar that he had been attacked at night in his palace. Hades had completely lost control of the Underworld; his own private army turned on him and he barely escaped.

It was horrifying to see the God of Death sobbing so brokenheartedly. Hades didn't even know who attacked him. All the previous monsters they had worked so hard to destroy came back to life. At least the Giants and Kronos managed to stay dead.

A month after that in January, the communications with the Romans had been completely severed. Now Piper understood why.

She met up with Leo in the infirmary. The news had spread all over camp like a wildfire, and it turns out that the horse was actually the legendary Arion, the fastest horse in the world.

"Is he okay?" Piper asked worriedly.

"Chillax Beauty Queen, of course he is," Leo said.

Piper grunted in annoyance and flung the door open. Frank and Hazel were sleeping soundlessly next to each other, and Jason was sitting upright on his bed, a brooding expression on his face.

"What happened, bro?" Leo asked rather bluntly.

Jason smiled at his best friend. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"Come on, Jason, tell us, please?" Piper begged, adding a little bit of charmspeak in her voice.

"Oh well, if you insist," Jason muttered. Leo flashed a grin at Piper and sat down on a stool. Piper noticed that Jason had a large cut wound on his shoulder. "Oh I'll get to that later, Piper."

"So… what happened?"

"Well I suppose it started when Hades appeared at the Winter Solace. After that, Octavian started sprouting some ridiculous theories and ideas during the meetings," Jason said, malice dripping from his voice when he mentioned Octavian.

"He gained followers. He told them what they wanted to hear. Octavian told them that the Greeks were evil; he told them that Reyna, Frank, Hazel, and I were not to be trusted. And I'm pretty sure he had to drug some people, because Dakota was opposing Octavian one day and the next day he was fully supporting him."

Leo patted Jason awkwardly on the back. Suddenly, Leo realized something was wrong. "Where's Reyna?"

Jason laughed bitterly. "I'll get to that part."

"It was like an good old _coup d'état_," Jason continued. "Somehow that asshole managed to turn everyone, and I mean _everyone_, on us. We had a few supporters, but when a few mysteriously vanished the little we had went to the other side. We tried contacting Hylla and the Amazons, but Octavian had cut off all communications.

"Then, when Frank, Hazel, Reyna, and I were planning on escaping because it was starting to grow too dangerous, they attacked. It was a brutal battle; we were trying to only disarm them. We were supposed to have a chariot pulled by Arion, but they burned it and Reyna took a knife to the shoulder so we could escape," Jason laughed bitterly.

Piper looked at Jason with sad eyes. Only a few months ago Jason was at the head of an army, a Praetor of the First Legion, but now he was an Roman outcast.

"Octavian has a crush on Reyna, everyone knows that, so he's keeping her in good condition," Jason muttered. "Only the Gods know what he's going to do to her."

Leo resumed patting Jason on the back, and a wave of tears started streaming from Jason's eyes. Leo said reassuring things into Jason's ears and Piper hugged him, but that still didn't stop the onslaught of tears.

"I'm a COWARD!" Jason suddenly roared. It was a miracle Frank and Hazel didn't wake up.

Oh, they were awake. They're just faking because _no one _wants to see Jason Grace cry. Jason continued cursing himself. "I have no honor! I ran away from the battle and I left her there!"

"It's okay, we'll go after them, ok?" Leo reassured.

"Camp Jupiter's defenses are nearly impenetrable. We would need siege material," Jason half-said/half-sobbed.

"It would take about a month to make siege material, Jason," Leo told him. "Then we could take back Camp Jupiter. Does that make you feel any better?"

"No," Jason cried. "Can you guys just give me some time alone?"

Leo and Piper nodded and left Jason to think his thoughts.

* * *

**PERCY **smiled as he controlled the fifty-foot tall wave with ease. Pontus had told him to not go over fifty because his body was still mortal and could burn up with too much power. It was the same with fire and earth. If Percy tried summoning too much fire, his body felt as if it were on fire; if he tried to create too large of an earth shield, he would double over in pain.

He had received blessings from each Primordial; that was the only way he was able to control the other elements.

However, with water, Percy didn't feel any pain, except when he exerted too much energy, he felt the tug in his gut rise in pain sharply. Percy had also learned how to turn water into sharp icicles, or to solidify water enough for other people to walk on. Training with water had been easy; after all, this was his element, and he soon moved onto fire.

At first, the only thing holding Percy back was the heat. Nyx taught him how to light his body on fire to make him much more ferocious, and also how to light his weapon on fire. The problem with that was that Percy would sometimes drop the halberd in pain when it grew too hot, but after a week or so, Percy managed to become fireproof and the smoke doesn't bother him anymore.

Then he was taught how to light the ground on fire, a handy trick, but he was warned not to try to light up more than he could handle. Otherwise, Percy would start burning up and pass out for two weeks or so. It had happened before. However, what really pissed Percy off was that he couldn't shadow travel, he just wasn't cut out for it. But it _was_ cool to make a miniature volcano in mere seconds.

Learning how to manipulate the earth was difficult. First of all, having Gaea as your teacher wasn't the best experience ever, but it was still rather fun. Percy could cause an earthquake that would measure a 5.3 on the Richter scale, not as powerful as his dad, but good enough. Percy then had to learn how to raise a quick wall of earth to defend him. It was extremely useful when sparring against Uranus, as lightning can't travel through the ground.

Nyx also taught Percy a handy trick. Now Percy can shape shift, just like Frank, except only into one thing: a raven. _Well, at least I can fly_, Percy thought happily.

Training with Uranus was fun. Percy just had to ignore Uranus's arrogance. Uranus taught him how to generate electricity in his fists, and then shoot them at various targets. He also learned how to control the air currents to a certain degree; Percy had wanted to learn how to make a lightning bolt come down from the sky, but Uranus refused to teach him how.

'That's Zeus's thing, so I can't teach you,' Uranus had said.

He had learned some interesting combos with his new powers, such as the moving wall of earth and fire, where he would raise up a wall of earth and set it on fire. Percy also figured out that water and electricity mixed can make a devastating attack. The water powers of Percy was still the strongest. Then it was fire, then electricity, and then earth.

Gaea had taught him how to bend the rules of Hades to talk to dead spirits. The bad thing was, he had to use a shovel _and _he had to buy some food. Then, the spirits were completely random, and they might not even be the people he wanted to talk to. Percy felt cheated.

The day after Gaea had taught him how to talk to the dead, Uranus told Percy that it was time to return to Camp Half-blood.

"What?" Percy said. "You didn't even tell me how to make others immortal! That's the whole reason I came here!"

Before Percy could continue, Nyx shoved a small box into Percy's hand. He opened it quickly and was shocked to find a wedding ring, a beautiful, intricately carved golden ring with a sparkling diamond sitting on the top. It had no specific engravings, however.

Words failed to come out of Percy's mouth.

"Things are going on at Camp Half-blood. Another war has started while you were gone, a tougher one than the other two," Nyx told Percy. Before Percy could say anything, Nyx cut him off. "We trained you for this. You are going against two Primordials, my brothers."

"Again? Are you serious?" Percy complained.

"Foolish mortal. You are going against Tartarus and Erebus. Tartarus is the Primordial of Nothingness and Erebus is the Primordial of Darkness. For years they have been imprisoned in the Underworld, now, from what I've heard, they have taken control of the Underworld from Hades," Gaea said.

"So that means—"

"All your old enemies from Tartarus has been released, Hyperion, Iapteus, even Typhon. Luckily for you guys, Kronos is not part of that group. Camp Jupiter has been taken over by a corrupt augur and the two are planning to destroy Camp Half-blood," Gaea told him.

"Well that escalated quickly," Percy muttered under his breath. "So why did you give me this ring?"

"We know what will happen in the future, Perseus," Nyx said. "And when you god, give this to the girl you love and she will join you in immortality."

Percy's eyes widened. He felt completely cheated. First off, he couldn't exactly communicate with his dead mother (unless he was incredibly lucky and one of the ghosts that he had summoned happened to be her), and second, he couldn't make _all _of his friends immortal. Only one. "I don't want to become a god."

"You won't have a choice," murmured Gaea.

"You need to get back to Camp Half-blood, _now_," Uranus told Percy. "Close your eyes."

Percy nodded and he closed his eyes. In a brilliant flash of light, he was gone.

* * *

**Hehe. Uranus.**

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	11. Only Chaos

**EDITED: 9/09/2012**

* * *

Perseus: Master of the Elements

**ONLY CHAOS**

**ANNABETH **watched Davis train.

He was decent with a sword; actually, he was one of the best in the camp. Nowhere near Percy of course, although Davis's archery surpassed Percy's.

Davis looked up at Annabeth and he grinned, showing off pearly white teeth, sparkling blue eyes, and curly blonde hair. He was handsome; taking a spot on the Aphrodite girls' Top 10 Hottest Guys list.

"Hey 'Beth," Davis said wiping his sweat off with a towel. When he made sure he was completely dry, he slung an arm around her shoulder and kissed her cheek.

Annabeth sighed and leaned into his warmth. Davis wrapped both arms around Annabeth and hugged her tight.

Annabeth was happy with him. He was an excellent boyfriend, Davis was smart, kind, modest, and funny, able to listen to Annabeth's rambles without adding his own two cents, and he was incredibly _romantic_.

When the entire camp found out about Annabeth and Percy, Annabeth was teased and bullied nonstop about it. Davis stayed at her side, even though he had a fair share of insults thrown at him, too. It was amazing how fast almost all of Annabeth's friends could turn on her.

But then again, it was amazing how fast Percy and Piper fell in love.

Whenever Annabeth thought about it, it baffled her. It took a few years for Percy and Annabeth to start liking each other, another few years to admit it, and then one more year for Percy to finally say I love you. It only took one date for Percy to say that to Piper.

And somehow, Davis managed to worm his way into the situation. Her memories of him during the Titan War were hazy, and the only clear memories she had of him was after the Giant War, when she began seeing him. It felt as though she had her memories screwed around with.

She came back to reality after she felt Davis's heat leave her.

"Sorry Annabeth," he muttered apologetically. "Gotta go. Nearly forgot some cabin stuff I need to do."

He gave Annabeth a quick kiss on the lips, and he walked out of the arena. Now the Arena was empty, with the exception of the lonely daughter of Athena.

_Just my thoughts and me…_ Annabeth thought sadly. No one ever stayed with her forever. Well, Percy probably would've, but since she screwed that up...

Her reputation was tarnished. Annabeth saw the whispers during lunch, the pointed fingers, and the pitiful looks. The cruel, flawless faces of the Aphrodite girls, hurtful words spilling out of them like a waterfall.

Yet despite of all of this, Davis stuck with her, and Annabeth came to really like him.

A group of giggling girls walked into the arena, but when their gaze fell upon Annabeth, they suddenly silenced. One girl stepped out of the circle, an attractive Asian girl with just the right amount of make up.

Shit. Drew Tanaka.

"Hello Annabeth," she said casually, an evil grin popping up on her face. Annabeth stood up and started making her way towards the exit.

"Where do you think you're going, hon?" Drew sneered, and she grabbed Annabeth's arm with more strength than Annabeth knew she possessed. The girls around Drew snickered maliciously.

Annabeth's free fingers found her dagger. "I'm going to my cabin."

"Oh really?" Drew grinned. Her pink eyeliner bugged Annabeth; it seemed to glow. "Not going to hang around with your little boy toy Davis?"

Annabeth took a few deep breaths to keep her cool. "He's my _boyfriend._ Not a boy toy."

"_You're just using him_," Drew charmspoke, and for a scary second Annabeth actually believed that.

The girls around her burst into laughter when they saw her hesitation, and they walked away towards the center of the arena, gossiping and laughing.

Annabeth had never felt so alone.

* * *

Two dark figures stood underwater.

"It is done, my friend," the shorter one said.

The taller figure stroked his dark beard, and a smile broke out on his face. "Is my son stronger?"

"Much stronger. Smarter, too, for that matter," the other answered.

"How powerful are his water abilities?"

The man stroked his chin for a while, trying to find the suitable words to use. "The most powerful demigod who ever lived."

The other figure grinned happily. "Finally, one of my children is stronger than one of Zeus's."

"But you must give him time," the shorter one said, pretending to not hear his friend's comment. "He doesn't know about the power he possesses. He is still prevented from unleashing his full potential."

"Why?"

"He is bound by his mortal boundaries," the man answered patiently. "If he doesn't become a god by his birthday, the power he possesses will consume him, and he will either be driven to insanity or die."

"So… he must god?" the taller one asked.

The other nodded.

"Yes, Perseus _must _god."

* * *

"**PIPER**, dear?" Aphrodite asked, gently combing Piper's hair.

After a great deal of arguing, Piper had ultimately let Aphrodite do her hair. "Yes, mom?"

Aphrodite stopped combing and twirled Piper around, and Piper slightly gasped at what she saw. It seemed as if she looked straight into a mirror, Aphrodite had her straight, brown hair and her high cheekbones, _Hades_, even her kaleidoscopic eyes. The only difference was that Aphrodite's skin was the color of ivory, and Piper's skin was tan.

"I like what you did with your hair," Aphrodite commented, gently stroking her daughter's long hair. "I didn't like it when it was short and uneven. I like it when it's long and luscious."

"Okay," Piper mumbled uncertainly, feeling rather awkward talking about her hair like this.

"I like what having a boyfriend has done to you," Aphrodite continued. "You dress much better now, and you take showers in the morning, even though your boyfriend isn't even here!"

Piper didn't bother asking Aphrodite how she knew those things. "Yes. Okay."

"Although I rather like it more when you dated Jason. For that matter, isn't he single right now? And he's also at this Camp, too! That's perfect!" Aphrodite squealed.

"Mom…" Piper muttered, a red blush creeping up on her face, "He still has a girlfriend, she's just been captured, and I lo—"

"OF COURSE!" Aphrodite yelled. She shook a fist in the air in triumph. "An affair!"

"Nooooo," Piper drawled, "You don't understand. I don't want to cheat on Percy. I. Don't. Want. To. Cheat. On. Percy."

"Cheat on Percy?" Aphrodite retorted incredulously. "You two are barely even a thing! You've only been on one date, and—"

Piper concluded. "He was there for me when Jason broke up with me, and I was there for him when Annabeth broke up with him."

Aphrodite seemed to be taken back by Piper's comment. "He wasn't even around to celebrate your eighteenth birthday!"

"Yeah, whatever," Piper muttered uncomfortably. "I've been thinking about it these months, and… well, he held me when I cried… when Leo was fixing the Argo, when Frank and Hazel were 'experimenting', when Jason was—"

"Did you love Jason?" Aphrodite suddenly asked, curiosity gleaming in her eyes, and a little… hope?

"At one point I thought that I did… but then Reyna popped up."

"But Reyna's not here," Aphrodite said.

Piper stared at her mother's eyes. "_I don't care_." Her voice was coated with a layer of steel and venom, and the way she said it told her mother that the conversation was over.

Maybe this was going to be harder than Aphrodite thought.

* * *

**THE THREE FATES **stood in the throne room in Olympus. Twelve nervous Olympian gods and goddess along with Hades and Hestia sat on their thrones; Hades a temporary throne of obsidian and Hestia in her usual place at the hearth.

The Moirai seemed to be angry.

"_Some of you had messed with Destiny," _Clotho, the spinner of the threads, said, her silvery voice echoing throughout the room.

Lachesis, the measurer of the threads, held up a long, bright blue line and an almost equally long line that was bright gray. The lines were intertwined. "_This was the line of Perseus Jackson and Annabeth Chase."_

Aphrodite winced inwardly, and Lachesis's eyes bored into her skull.

"_We have measured these threads in vain,_" Atropos, the most feared of the Three Fates, the cutter of the threads, murmured. "_One of you has broken the Divine Law: that no god nor goddess can directly interfere with a mortal's life."_

Clotho unwrapped the two lines, and instead intertwined the blue line with a bright pink line. "_Now his destiny intertwines with that of Piper McLean's._"

Atropos pulled out a grass shear, and in one slick move, shortened both threads. "_And it is because of that, they will die sooner._"

Lachesis nodded. "_Also, it seems that young Perseus's thread seems to have been tampered with by other gods."_

"_Older gods_," Clotho added. A quiet murmur went around the throne room, and a guilty chill went down Poseidon's spine.

"Hold on," Poseidon interrupted, slightly irking the gods around him. No one interrupted the Fates. "Their life thread… it's so short. It looks like Percy is going to die this year, and Piper even before him."

"_Indeed,_" Atropos said. "_The only thing that could save them is Chaos."_

And with that, the Three Fates turned and walked out of the room, their white robes billowing out behind them.

"_The only thing that could save them is Chaos…_"

* * *

**TARTARUS**, of Nothingness, stood with **EREBUS**, of Darkness.

Tartarus and Erebus were wearing the same outfits: an obsidian suit with a black tie. They were walking casually around Camp Jupiter, examining a gleaming, golden statue of seven demigods. Their names were written on a plaque directly underneath them: Hazel Levesque, Frank Zhang, Jason Grace, Perseus Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Leo Valdez, and Piper McLean.

"So these are the seven that we should be wary of?" Erebus asked his brother.

Tartarus ran a hand over his dark black hair. "Not wary. We must respect them, however."

"Oh? How so?"

"Well," Tartarus analyzed the statue in front of them. "Hazel Levesque is an excellent fighter, and she has some sort of control over metals. Frank Zhang can transform into different animals, and he can only be killed if this fire wood thing burns out. The two love each other and will viciously protect each other."

Erebus snorted. "Love is pathetic."

Tartarus dismissed his brother's comment. "Jason Grace… Son of Zeus, lightning powers, can fly, excellent with a spear and decent with a sword. He's a pretty good leader, loyal to a certain extent, but rather arrogant. Leo Valdez, fights with different weapons and he can light things on fire."

"No love interests?" Erebus asked.

"Its funny, actually. Jason's current girlfriend is Reyna, you know, the girl in the prison who always curses us?"

Erebus laughed loudly, earning him a few odd looks from the Romans around them. "Yes, I know."

"Yes, and Leo likes Piper McLean," Tartarus continued. "Piper is a decent fighter, although, apparently from what I heard, she radiates beauty on the battlefield."

"Pardon me for asking, but what does that mean?"

Tartarus looked for the correct way to explain. "There's this certain aspect of her that makes you _not _want to attack her, I guess. She also charmspeaks."

"Oh damn," Erebus muttered. "I _hate _charmspeakers."

Tartarus grinned. "We'll go for her first, then. Anyways, Annabeth Chase. A master with the knife, no special powers, but she's incredibly smart, yet if you insult her, she gets rash."

Erebus nodded. "What about this Perseus Jackson, then?"

Tartarus's face darkened. "He's the one that put everyone in Tatarus. He can probably defeat my son, Typhon…"

"How? Isn't he just a Son of Poseidon?"

"Yes… but our brothers and sisters trained him and he is stronger than ever," Tartarus told Erebus, a small hint of betrayal in his voice. "His fatal flaw is Personal Loyalty, and he probably loves that Piper girl, although he will sacrifice the world just to save a friend."

"Alright," Erebus said, and he sat down on the bench. Tartarus joined him. The two brothers sat there for a while, a silence settling in between them.

"Personally," Tartarus said, "I don't want to fight them… I heard from Uranus that he wields Calamity."

"I forged that weapon. It will return to me when I see it," Erebus assured.

Tartarus nodded thoughtfully. "If the damned Romans didn't help us take over the Underworld…"

"It's that augur," Erebus murmured. "He wants the Greeks to die. He was angry that he wasn't in the Prophecy of Seven. It was the deal. They help us escape that filthy hell hole—"

"And we help them destroy the Greeks," Tartarus finished. "I don't want to anger Olympus. I was planning on returning the Underworld to Hades after we broke out, but we swore on the River Styx."

Erebus sighed sadly. "Same. I just wanted to find a nice beach house in California and live my life."

"I want to find my siblings," Tartarus muttered. "Not fight against the Greeks."

Erebus agreed. "Well, we might as well get on with it. Are Hyperion and Hercules's forces moving in?"

"Yes, brother. I still can't believe we managed to persuade Hercules to join our side."

"Indeed. It will be a great shock to Olympus when they see Zeus's prized son march against them."

Tartarus nodded, and the two vanished into thin air.

* * *

** PIPER **stood on the edge of Half-blood Hill, along with the rest of the Camp, staring up into the sky at a massive golden flying warship, with a bronze dragonhead and black cannons.

It was the Argo III. Leo had left it there at Camp Jupiter, so there was an easy way to travel from Camp to Camp.

Jason had flown to the Hill when he heard the news. He was as excited as could be, but Annabeth, being the Daughter of Wisdom, ordered everyone to be alert. She even had some campers man the anti-air cannons, and every camper on the hill had a bronze shield, just in case the Romans decided to fire arrows at them.

"Those are the Romans who resisted Octavian, I bet," Jason said happily, and he rushed out to greet them. Annabeth grabbed his arm and yanked down, earning a yelp and causing Jason to fall down on the ground.

"You can't just go running in there like that!" Annabeth spat. "What if they are here to kill us?"

"What if they aren't?" Jason retorted, and Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"How about Jason just goes one step past Thalia's tree?" Frank suggested. "If he does get shot, then he will be close enough for us to quickly retrieve him."

Annabeth pondered this for a few moments, and then she nodded rather half-heartedly. "Fine. I just don't feel comfortable doing this without Percy around… he always guarded my back."

An awkward silence settled in amongst the Six, and Leo broke it up. "How 'bout I go with him?"

"No," Annabeth replied quickly. "Jason, hurry up and do your thing."

Jason nodded happily, and cautiously he stepped out of the boundaries of Camp Half-blood with all the campers staring at him. The Argo III seemed to stop moving, and it hovered in place.

"Fellow Romans!" Jason roared. "The Greeks and I welcome you with—"

And that was when an arrow sprouted out of Jason's chest.

* * *

**Haha, I'm evil, aren't I?**

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	12. The Return

**EDITED: 4/22/2013**

* * *

Perseus: Master of the Elements

**THE RETURN**

_"No," Annabeth replied quickly. "Jason, hurry up and do your thing."_

_Jason nodded happily, and cautiously he stepped out of the boundaries of Camp Half-blood with all the campers staring at him. The Argo III seemed to stop moving, and it hovered in place._

_"Fellow Romans!" Jason roared. "The Greeks and I welcome you with—"_

_And that was when an arrow sprouted out of Jason's chest._

**- Ω -**

_Oh my gods._

**PIPER **narrowly dodged a massive, flaming arrow fired from above as she helped Leo drag Jason to safety. The massive Argo III loomed in front of them, and arrows rained down like rain. Thankfully, the Greek demigods on the hill were all equipped with high-quality shields; Piper observed that there were at least ten arrows stuck in each shield.

She heard the anti-air cannons go off, a massive BOOM that made her ears ring. Jason was now conscious again, groaning about how he wanted to "get into the fight."

"Uh-uh Sparky," Leo admonished as he handed Jason over to an Apollo camper, "That's a pretty deep wound, not mortal, but not light enough to just rip the arrow out of your shoulder and go all Rambo style."

"Leo, shut the—" Jason's eyes suddenly grew wide. "What the Holy Zeus…"

Piper whipped around and her eyes also grew wide. The arrows had subsided, but something else was raining out of the sky. Dozens of Romans with parachutes started jumping out of the ship, so many Romans that their bright purple parachutes blotched out the sun.

Now the Greeks were starting to draw their weapons. The anti-air cannons were still firing hard, but by now about two hundred demigods were all in Delta Formation. Piper and Leo rushed towards where Annabeth was shouting orders.

"Piper, Leo, there you two are… where's Jason? Is he okay?"

Leo nodded quickly, and Annabeth continued. "Leo, take the Hephaestus cabin and lead them along with the Nemesis cabin to flank them from behind, make sure that they _don't _see you. Don't even bother disarming, it'll take too long. Go in for the kill. Got it?"

"Yes ma'am!" Leo shouted, and he rushed off after drawing a giant war hammer.

"Piper, take the Aphrodite and Apollo cabin to support Hazel and Frank on the front lines. Have half the Apollo cabin to serve as medics while you're at it; give the other half some of these," Annabeth grinned deviously as she handed Piper some vials containing an glowing, green liquid.

"Annabeth, what is—"

Annabeth shoved a bag into Piper's hand, full of the vials. "Don't ask. They'd know what to do with it. Just don't drop it."

Piper nodded as she took the bag. "Do you trust Frank and Hazel?"

"Do we have a choice?" Annabeth retorted. "See you at the battlefield."

Annabeth smiled and put on a baseball cap. She promptly disappeared into thin air. Piper shrugged and withdrew Katoptris, a bright, beautiful blade that acted more as a mirror than a lethal weapon. She sprinted top speed towards where the Apollo campers were, and when she got there Piper quickly explained Annabeth's direction. When she handed the large bag of vials to a camper, he grinned devilishly and motioned towards his siblings.

"Hey guys, Annabeth wants us to use Formula X," he said, with a rather scary smile on his face. His siblings started laughing as they drew their bows.

"Alright, remember, the second they get in range—"

The guy shook Piper off. "Yeah, we know. Unleash hell."

Piper nodded and sped off towards her cabin. The Romans massed near the bottom of the hill, just out of arrow range. They were organized into neat rows with gleaming bronze shields and sparkling gold swords. There were roughly one hundred fifty Romans, and they all seemed to be ready for a brutal battle.

Her cabin was in a neat row right behind the Ares, Athena, Nike, and the other children. The Demeter and Dionysus children were off to the side as specialty support, and Piper was pretty sure she saw Frank in massive dragon form. Hazel was pimped out in diamond armor that glittered in the sun, and she could dimly make out the Hephaestus and Nemesis campers in the forest towards her left.

Piper shook her head. "Are you guys ready for this?"

Drew stared Piper hard in the eye, and—wait, was that a tear? "Our old Roman friends may be in there, Piper."

Piper gulped, remembering all of the friendly faces, all the good times. "I know… this is why Romans and Greeks should never mix. They—the gods—warned us that this would happen."

"Piper, I don't think I want to do this… it's one thing to kill a monster, but it's another thing to kill a _human_," Drew whimpered.

Piper nodded solemnly. "They want our blood, Drew. No mercy."

"No mercy," Piper's siblings echoed. The campers around them echoed it, too. Soon, all the Greeks started chanting it, a low roar that eventually turned into a loud chant. Shields were clanged together as the chant started growing quicker, and when it reached its high point it turned into a loud, deafening roar.

"FOR CAMP-HALFBLOOD! NO MERCY!"

Then the Greeks charged, an orderly mass of flesh barreling down at the Romans, using the laws of gravity and physics to their advantage. Pegasus soared overhead with Greeks bombarding the Romans from above while arrows glowing green smashed into the Roman flank, blowing up on impact and causing chaos. The anti-air cannons fired shot after shot into the Argo III's starboard side. Suddenly, a mass of fire erupted near the back of the Roman formation and twenty or so demigods charged out of the forest.

With a vicious war cry Frank turned from a dragon into an elephant, effectively smashing the Roman wall of shields and messing up their formation completely. The Greeks crashed into the Romans, and the scream of metal clashing and the roar of explosions arose. Green arrows still flew overhead, the anti-air cannons were still firing at the Argo III, and Leo was attacking their flank. Piper pushed her way towards the front and was nearly impaled by a long bronze spear, which embedded itself within an Ares's camper's shield.

Piper parried a skinny boy's cut and smashed the flat of her sword into his helmet, which sent a spray of blood flying through the air. He crumpled to the ground and Piper moved on, slashing and cutting at bodies. With every body that fell, more guilt crashed upon her, but Piper steeled her heart and relentlessly attacked. She used her mother's gifts to her advantage, no one seemed to willingly attack her, and occasionally she had to charmspeak. The Greeks pushed forward, attacking the Romans without mercy. Formula X Arrows screamed by, blowing chunks out of the ground. The Romans held their ground despite all of these, and a golden glow seemed to radiate from the center of their formation.

Suddenly, Piper was tackled by something and pushed to the ground. She attempted to slash at the person, but the person grabbed both of her wrists and pinned them. "Same team, same team."

"Leo!" Piper yelled when she looked up into his eyes, "How are there so many Romans?"

Leo rolled off of Piper. "They somehow managed to boost the power of the engine _and_ cram about one hundred fifty Romans onto that ship."

"Yeah, well—"

Something exploded right next to Piper and sent her flying. She landed with a painful _oomph, _and felt red-hot pain shoot up her left arm. She looked up warily and saw a giant, flaming spear coming right at her. With all the strength she could muster, Piper quickly rolled to the side and the spear struck the ground where she was just sitting.

She tried to see whether or not her left arm was still okay, but it wasn't. Piper found it hard to move her fingers. It didn't matter, anyways, since Piper wielded her sword one-handed, but it was always nice to have a spare fist to punch someone with when things get rough.

Piper looked to her right and saw Katoptris; the beautiful blade was dark with red blood. She reached out for it, but a booted foot stomped on her wrist and held it there. Piper looked up and could barely see; the humanoid that was standing on her was radiating light. All Piper could see was a golden set of armor with a wickedly sharp helmet, and where skin was supposed to be there was light.

"What are you?" Piper screeched, vainly trying to kick the damn bastard that was standing on her wrist.

The figure lazily plucked the flaming spear from the ground and Piper could feel the heat coming off of it. "I am Hyperion, Titan of the East and the Lord of Light!"

"I thought you were a tree!" Piper retorted.

Hyperion put more weight on Piper's wrist, and she cried out in pain. "You're one of the Seven, aren't you? I'm going to enjoy watching you burn…"

He raised his flaming spear and golden fire started licking the ground around them; Piper felt as if she was roasting in an oven. She shut her eyes and prepared for the imminent pain, but instead Piper heard a massive grunt and the heat disappeared. She quickly looked up and saw a knife sticking out of Hyperion's shoulder. Then, the knife somehow managed to rip itself out of his shoulder and impale Hyperion's chest. With a mighty roar Hyperion wildly kicked the air in front of him, and his foot seemed to make contact with someone.

Said someone flew back and landed on the ground, and a mass of curly blonde hair suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Annabeth. With a start, Piper realized that Annabeth had been using her Yankee's cap and just saved Piper's life.

_No shit, Sherlock._

Hyperion slowly advanced towards Annabeth and ripped the knife out of his chest, sending a spray of golden ichor everywhere. His eyes glowed gold in his helmet, and fire surrounded him as he raised his spear. "I remember you… die horribly, Daughter of Athena!"

Piper didn't even think twice. She hurled Katoptris at Hyperion, and it penetrated his armor. The sword's tip could bee seen on the other side of his body, but nevertheless, Hyperion ripped it out of his body and splattered Piper with golden blood. Hyperion barely seemed fazed by the heavy wound.

"Damn you idiotic Greeks! Stop throwing—"

Hyperion never got a chance to finish his sentence. A large, flaming hammer smashed into his helmet straight on, and with a dull _thud_, Hyperion fell to the ground, only to be trampled by a giant elephant and crushed to death by a massive ruby. The screams of pain almost made Piper feel bad for the Titan. _Almost. _A few extra stabs from Annabeth's knife and one blow from Leo's hammer, and done. Hyperion didn't get back up.

"Would you like the honors, ma'am?" Leo asked, wiping sweat off his hands and bowing to Piper while handing her Katoptris.

Piper smiled and nearly forgot she was still in a battle. "Yes, dearest sir, I would."

Piper took Katoptris and in one, neat slice, cut off Hyperion's head. His body disintegrated into the wind. The only thing that was left was the Titan's glowing spear and helmet.

"Lamest death, ever, eh?" Leo asked, with a smile. Annabeth, Frank, and Hazel had gone off to where the main fighting was.

Piper grinned again. "Tots."

Leo waggled his eyebrows. "Would you kindly escort me back to where the fighting is?"

"Surely."

Despite all the lightness in her speech, Piper was worried about what was happening to her friends on the front lines.

* * *

"Josh, wake up! For gods sake—someone get a damn medic!"

"You, Jared, get you ass over here!"

"Drew Tanaka, calm your face. Ashley, I'm coming over—_Di immortals_, this looks deep. Help me take him to the makeshift infirmary, _fast._"

**DREW TANAKA **glanced worriedly at the three demigods, and she trudged back into battle.

Drew wasn't a fighter. She would much rather stare at her reflection in the creek, sitting in the cool shade, without any sort of danger whatsoever. From a safe distance, she observed the defeat of the Titan Hyperion, and although she wouldn't admit it, it was rather impressive how five members of the Seven teamed up against a single enemy. Her sword, a wickedly sharp and well-forged samurai sword (a blessing from her mother), was slick with Roman blood.

Whenever she made contact with a Roman, Drew had always attempted to disarm them. Sadly, Drew's lack of skill forced her to focus on just staying alive. People like Annabeth or Leo could probably just disarm the enemy and knock them out, but Drew? No. It was either kill or be killed.

Fighting against humans is a lot harder than monsters. First, humans are organized. They are harder to kill, better equipped, and there was a moral aspect of it also. Drew didn't feel good when she cut down a Roman; Drew knew the feeling of losing a close friend or a relative, and whenever a body fell, her heart broke. Being a daughter of Aphrodite, she could sense the hatred of a life-long feud between the two armies.

Drew narrowly dodged the slice of a rapier; a tiny portion of the sword cut her face though. A quick flick of the wrist and her sword penetrated the armor of the Roman, and when Drew pulled it out a sea of blood came out. Gross, sticky red blood splattered all over her, and Drew nearly threw up.

Out of the corner of Drew's eyes, she saw a flash of gold. The next moment, Drew was on the ground and her body was on fire. Her torso was disgustingly wet, and Drew's vision was blurred. However, even with her blurred vision, Drew could make out the shape of a triumphant Roman in an execution stance, with the golden sword stuck high up in the air, ready to snuff out a human life.

The pain Drew expected never came. A man in black armor barreled into the Roman, and knocked him out cold. When Drew managed to get back up, the man in black armor was gone, but he left a lingering smell.

The smell of the sea.

* * *

"_Di immortales_, **PIPER**, do you smell that?"

Piper sniffed the air, and apart from the smell of sweat and blood, Piper could smell something… _different. _Something nice and refreshing, like the salty taste of an ocean breeze—_holy poopy face tomato noses, it couldn't be. Could it? _Piper's mind went on overdrive. The smell of the sea, so refreshing, so calming—it was real. Piper could practically hear the roar of the waves.

_The roar of the waves…_

It happened so quickly. One moment the battlefield was alive, Greek versus Roman, the shriek of Formula X arrows, the commands shouted by the Athena cabin, everything was so vibrant and _real, _but then—

_SPLASH!_

Piper went underwater, accidentally gulping a mouthful of saltwater. She tumbled around and smacked into various bodies, Roman and Greek, and finally, when Piper felt as if her lungs would burst, she surfaced. The first thing she did wasn't exactly one of Piper's brightest moments: she vomited. After she felt a little less queasy, Piper tried to stand up (her legs felt like jelly), but she failed miserably. Piper slumped to the ground and looked around.

The entire battlefield was eerily silent. The fighting had ceased, and every demigod in the area was on the ground, coughing and spluttering seawater everywhere. It was just then when Piper noticed a tall, lone figure in black armor, with windswept black hair—no, it couldn't be. There was electricity flowing in and out of the air around him, and the ground near him, despite just being flooded, was on fire. The person seemed to be looking for someone, and when he turned around to look at Piper, her breath hitched and she nearly burst with happiness.

A pair of bright green eyes met her kaleidoscopic ones.

Percy Jackson has returned.

* * *

**Am I really that evil to leave you on **_**another**_** cliffhanger? Yes, yes I am.**

**The battle's not nearly over yet. Just gettin' started. Anyways, I'm sorry for not updating in such a long time, and I want to apologize for my inconsistency, and sorry if my writing is a little rusty.**

Review!


	13. The Greatest to Ever Live

**EDITED: 1/18/2013: I realized that Golden ichor should've flowed instead of blood. Thanks, Zeta's-Awakening.**

**Note: I can't seem to be able to update normally; I have to literally delete the chapter and repost it. Can someone help me combat this problem somehow?**

* * *

Piper McLean looked up deep into the eyes of her boyfriend, and she gave him a quick peck on the lips before slamming the door shut on him. His fist started pounding on the door (after his shock wore off) but Piper laughed. She wouldn't let him in, plus, she had business to get to.

Piper looked straight at you, yes you, the reader, and she spoke clearly. "I would like to apologize for not updating in quite a while. I will not beg for mercy, as some of you suggested, but I will sincerely say sorry."

Lacy thought she was going insane.

"I do hope that you can forgive me, and as always, read the damned words in bold. They're pretty important."

* * *

**I'm back. ****-the Zapperianator**

* * *

Perseus: Master of the Elements

**THE GREATEST TO EVER LIVE**

_The entire battlefield was eerily silent. The fighting had ceased, and every demigod in the area was on the ground, coughing and spluttering seawater everywhere. It was just then when Piper noticed a tall, lone figure in black armor, with windswept black hair—no, it couldn't be. There was electricity flowing in and out of the air around him, and the ground near him, despite just being flooded, was on fire. The person seemed to be looking for someone, and when he turned around to look at Piper, her breath hitched and she nearly burst with happiness._

_A pair of bright green eyes met her kaleidoscopic ones._

_Percy Jackson has returned._

**- Ω -**

**PIPER **glared harshly at the son of Poseidon. Even though her eyes were probably full of happiness a moment ago, she felt nothing but pure, wrathful anger.

Why didn't he contact her? Why didn't he even _attempt _to speak to her in any way? Couldn't he send an Iris Message? Maybe he could've visited her in a dream, or sent a message by mail? Too make it worse, she was soaking wet. Couldn't Percy have, maybe, gone easy on her and keep her dry and warm?

The cocky grin that was sent her way made her heart flutter madly, but she huffed and tried to stand up. She just fell back to the ground like the last time she tried. Her body was drained of all energy, and she felt nauseated. A terrible headache was starting to take its hold on Piper, and she muttered Greek curses under her breath.

The sloppy, stinking sea spawn, oh how she was going to—

Piper's thinking died when a warm, familiar pair of lips crashed onto hers. Her lips moved automatically and parted, allowing a probing tongue to gently explore her mouth. Things were getting pretty intense until Piper realized where she was, and she pulled away.

"Damn it, Piper," she heard Percy whine, "You won't even let your boyfriend, who hasn't seen you in _such _a long time, kiss you?"

Piper masked her face in mock anger, but in reality, she was happy to hear his voice again. "Do you forget where we are? We're in the middle of fighting!"

The cocky reply came as expected. "Not anymore, Pipes. Look around."

Aside from groaning demigods and puddles of murky water, Piper saw nothing spectacular. Although it was rather impressive how powerful that wave was, Piper decided that she would never tell Percy how awesome that was. She didn't want his ego to get too inflated, but she did like his charming confidence.

Stupid daughter of Aphrodite genes.

"You look impressed."

Piper rolled her eyes and Percy gently cupped her face. She said, "You know, this is the middle of a battle…"

Percy laughed and shook his head. "Not anymore it ain't. The Romans are running away, and plus, do you think they have the guts to fight after what just happened?"

"What, a tiny wave that attacked them from behind?"

Percy stared at Piper, his eyebrows raised, and she decided that she should annoy him like this more often. He looks cute when he's annoyed.

_Whoa. That was completely uncharacteristic of you, Piper_. _You're spending way too much time with the girls. _

He was about to open his mouth to make some smart reply when he was suddenly knocked off his feet by a massive olive colored club. Piper yelped, and she was about to scream when a massive shoe came down hard on her windpipe. Piper made something between a whimper and a gurgling sound, and she saw stars.

When her vision cleared, a massive hulk of a man stood over her, and Piper realized that she knew this man. She had seen him before, many times, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it…

Of course. She saw him in museums, on vases, during art class, hell; he was the one and only Heracles. But he was dressed in purple, the most Roman color there is, so Piper assumed that he was in his Roman version, Hercules.

That meant Percy got hit… by a club… swung by the strongest man to live.

_Crap._

* * *

**PERCY **was literally flying.

He flew for around twenty feet before crashing to the ground painfully. Although he received lessons from Pontus on how to land from a fall without breaking anything, Percy was pretty sure he heard something crack. The side of his body that got hit by the club was throbbing intensely—nothing like the pain training he went through, but it still _hurt_.

With a slight grunt, Percy got up on a knee only to see that he left a _crater _there.

He shook his head. There were more important things than such a trivial matter. But damn, he was impressed. Whoever hit him had quite a blow, and that made Percy rather respect the guy… until he saw the person stomp on Piper.

Instantly a ball of absolute hatred welled up within Percy, and before he knew it, a massive, flaming rock smashed into whoever the person was and knocked him flying for quite a distance. After his anger quelled at seeing Piper safe again, Percy felt rather bad. Pontus and Uranus taught him that no matter how strong Percy was; it didn't matter if he let his emotions get in the way.

The feelings of anger and hatred had to be tamed by logic and reason. Impulsiveness had to be countered by patience and sometimes, even more patience.

Percy took a deep breath and felt the heart pumping in his chest slowly calm down.

He remembered that the Primordials told him that loyalty was not a bad thing; as long as you gave it to people that deserved it. So they strengthened it, stretched it taut, and reinforced it with love and passion. Or at least, that's what Gaea said, and Percy still didn't trust her that much.

But the instant anger at seeing the random guy treat Piper like that… it wasn't normal. A nagging doubt spread through Percy's mind, and something instantly clicked.

Gaea didn't want to benefit him… she wanted to destroy him. And she knew that Personal Loyalty would be his downfall someday, and Percy knew it too. So she took it, strengthened it, made it wilder, and gave Percy back to the mortal world, knowing that one day, because of his love for another, he would make the ultimate sacrifice.

Whoa. Percy's mind just lost its virginity.

Percy was so deep in concentration that he didn't realize the arrow coming right at his face until his reflexes caught it for him. There was a strange, green, and bad-smelling substance on the arrow tip; Percy immediately classified it as Hydra poison. Nyx had told him about the deadly Hydra poison—most lethal of all poisons—and she warned him that the only times he would see it is in the blood vessels of a Hydra or on the arrows of Heracles.

Percy's senses immediately heightened and adrenaline rushed through his veins. He was fighting Heracles. He was always compared to Heracles, wasn't it time for Percy to show everybody who the _real _Hero of Olympus was? Not Heroes of Olympus, give Percy a break, the _Hero _of Olympus. The Savior of Olympus. The—

His well-taught mind stopped its thinking pattern there, and for once, Percy was scared. He had never thought like that before—or at least he had never been like that before he had received his training.

That was when Percy realized that the training hadn't just made him more powerful—it made him more power hungry. With quite an effort Percy shoved down that thought to the back of his brain, and he focused on the tough fight that was surely going to happen.

But wait, wasn't Heracles Greek? Why would he fight for the Romans?

"Heracles," Percy called, holding his arms up in a peace gesture, "why do you fight?"

Heracles's back was towards Percy, and he seemed to be holding something in his hands. Percy's instincts told him to that Heracles wasn't in much of a mood to talk; the ancient hero emanated an aura of age-old hatred, but why? Percy wanted answers, and he didn't like to get blood on his hands. He was taught to fight barehanded unless the situation was getting desperate, and even then Calamity was an ultimate last-resort weapon.

The ancient hero turned towards Percy, and he saw that Heracles was wearing decorated Roman armor. In his right hand he held a massive four-foot long club (how does he even hold that?) and on his left hand he held a long bow. He threw the long bow at the ground with such force that the bow shattered upon impact. _Shame_, Percy thought, _that might've come in handy later. Looked nice, too._

The first thing Percy realized about Heracles was that he wasn't tall. He was short and stocky, but dang, the dude has muscles—bulging muscles that didn't seem that natural. His face was rather handsome, and Percy could see the curly, well-trimmed beard.

_The greatest hero of Olympus doesn't seem like much_, Percy thought. Yet Percy was wise enough to never underestimate an enemy; he learned that when he got beat up by a hamster during practice one day. Slightly grimacing at the memory, Percy looked up towards the sky and saw a large, unnatural storm cloud.

"So the Olympians are watching us, eh?" Percy asked his opponent.

Heracles made a sneering noise. "So you're Percy Jackson."

"The one and only," Percy replied, slowly walking towards Piper, but he disguised it as advancing towards Heracles. "You're the great Heracles."

"Hercules," Heracles—Hercules—corrected. "Roman and everything."

The conversation seemed light. Hercules seemed to be interested in Percy; his club was absentmindedly rested on his shoulder and his free hand was in his pocket. Wait, since when did Roman armor have pockets?

Percy gently kneeled next to Piper and laid a comforting hand on her cheek, and he surveyed the battlefield.

The Romans disappeared over the hill opposite of Camp Half-blood. There were bodies on the ground, and the Greeks seemed to be watching Percy and Hercules with great attention. Even some Romans were watching, and Percy recognized a certain _sonofabitch _also known as Octavian.

He tried to identify the bodies on the ground near him, and Percy prayed that they were only knocked out. He recognized a great deal of them, both Roman and Greek, since he had quite literally _taught _them. There was a daughter of Ceres without an arm that he used to joke with at Camp Jupiter, a son of Apollo that had attempted to teach him archery, and a son of Mars that Percy had saved from a pack of hellhounds—but that wasn't it. There were a lot more.

So many deaths… and it was only one battle.

Brief and intense remorse coursed through Percy's veins. Quick as it was, it left a lasting impact upon the loyal son of Poseidon; Greek or Roman, they did not deserve to die. Many of the faces were barely teenagers, much like Hazel when she just learned that she was supposed to be part of a great prophesy.

"_In war, there will always be deaths. The stupid never get over it, but the strong learn to move on and to let go of the memories._"

Percy clenched his fist, and he nearly forgot about Piper. She tried handing him her blade, but Percy put it on the ground next to his girlfriend.

"I can't leave you defenseless, can't I?" Percy murmured, gently kissing Piper's hand. "I don't think I could do that. Now pay attention, and watch me. You won't want to miss a second of it."

Piper rolled her eyes and muttered a _good luck_, and Percy smirked at his own cocky attitude.

"That's your girlfriend, Jackson?"

Percy's posture instantly straightened, and he stared _down _at the god Hercules, much to Percy's amusement.

"I got to admit, she's pretty. Nice catch," Hercules casually said. "Is she your fourth, fifth?"

Percy gave Hercules a _shut the hell up _look. The god just laughed. "So young. So _naïve._"

"You're a Greek. Why do you fight for the Romans?"

"You're both Roman and Greek. Why fight for Greeks?"

Percy flinched. What was Hercules driving at? He wasn't Roman; Percy was pretty sure he was Greek, and as awesome as Jason was, Percy wouldn't hesitate to chop off his head if Camp Half-blood broke out into war with Camp Jupiter. Luckily, his lightning-powered buddy was on the Greek side this time—Percy made sure Jason's shoulder got healed properly—but Percy couldn't help but think what would've happened if Jason was on the enemy side.

_But this time, it's Octavian's fault. He imprisoned Reyna and basically forced the camp to fight us. _

Or at least, that's what Hazel told him.

"See what I'm saying? The Romans idolized me. After all, _Hera _made my life a living hell, not _Juno_," Hercules continued. "Plus, didn't _Hera _take away your memories?"

"It was for the greater good," Percy automatically responded. "To defeat a threat."

"Pshh," Hercules said. "I could've taken Gaea one on one."

Percy glared at the god, who was slowly swinging his club, as if Hercules was warming himself up. "I _actually _took on Gaea alone."

Hercules burst into a hearty laugh. "Well, let's let your actions speak, eh boy? What's your weapon of choice?"

Percy responded by cracking his knuckles. Hercules let out an impressed whistle. "Well damn boy. The whole of Olympus is watching with interest, you sure about that?"

So there were gods on that weird cloud. Percy nodded, and got into his stance. Hercules smirked and advanced slowly, taking his time. Anger flared in Percy—he hated it when his opponent acted like he wasn't worth a cent. Quickly, Percy took a deep breath—this was not the time to get angry and light-headed. But Percy will show this old, outdated hero who the real greatest hero of all time is.

"So, this is to decide who the true greatest hero of all time is?" Hercules asked.

Percy nodded. Hercules laughed.

Hercules made the first move. He swung his club for Percy's head, and Percy simply ducked. Then Hercules's free hand swung forward for Percy's gut, but Percy sidestepped and jabbed towards Hercules's face. The god dodged it and swung his club at Percy's feet—big mistake.

Percy three-sixty-jumped over the club, and, using the momentum that he already had, Percy landed on the ground and sweeper kicked Hercules. The ancient hero was too slow to dodge it and was knocked onto the ground. Percy quickly jumped up and attempted to stomp on the god's gut, but Hercules rolled sideways and Percy only stomped on his thigh. Hercules managed to get up, but the strike still served its purposed though, and Hercules was temporarily Charlie-horsed.

A quick, vicious roundhouse kick to the face, and Hercules was on the ground, panting.

Percy was about to finish Hercules off when a lightning bolt struck him out of nowhere. He was thrown off his feet and Percy landed on his back painfully. Unable to fathom what just happened, Percy was temporarily shocked (**Haha. Puns.**). He didn't even see the club until it was almost too late. Reflexes made him roll to the side, and the club smashed into the ground where Percy was a millisecond ago.

Then Percy realized where the lightning bolt came from. Zeus, that sly god, didn't want to see his son get beat up by the son of Poseidon, so he was tilting the odds in his son's favor. Well, Percy decided that _that _wasn't going to happen. He made the rock underneath Hercules's feet crumble in order to give Percy some precious seconds in order to concentrate.

A familiar, albeit almost nonexistent tug in Percy's gut told him that he had succeeded. Pontus had taught him how to suck the water from the air—quite a handy trick. He looked up into the sky and saw thin layer of water hovering over him, shielding Percy from thunderbolts. Now it was time to beat Hercules fair and square.

Percy, being the gentleman he was, allowed Hercules to regain his footing. The god watched him with a beady eye, but Percy knew that Hercules understood why he had let him get back up. Percy wanted to beat Hercules in a fair fight, without any powers or anything, and in doing so Percy would be able to properly claim the title, "Greatest Hero of All Time."

Hercules swung his club at Percy's head again, but this time Percy just blocked it with his bare fists. It did sting a little bit, but by now such pain was trivial to Percy. Hercules was surprised that the boy didn't go flying; after all, he did just swing his club with all his might. And Hercules _definitely _didn't see the fist coming right at his face until it painfully crunched against his nose and sent him sprawling backwards.

Hercules didn't even have time to react; the son of Poseidon's foot smashed onto his windpipe harshly—Hercules chocked a little bit—and then Percy kicked the god's head like a soccer ball. Hercules went five feet before landing in a way that sent blinding pain up his wrist.

Grinning, Percy picked up Hercules's massive olive-club only to find that it wasn't really that heavy.

Percy smashed the club into Hercules's thigh, and the old hero let out a shameless scream. Percy swung the club again with precision, and it crippled the once proud god. Without the use of his legs, Hercules was rendered useless. Percy flipped the dying god over so that he could look into Hercules's eyes.

Percy remembered something. A gift he had received from an old friend.

"Remember this…?" Percy asked, and he felt around his armor suit's pouch. It was there, as it always was and will be.

Riptide, his most reliable weapon, sprang out of pen form—much to the horror of a certain Hercules. The son of Zeus's eyes seemed to dilate with the mere glow of the sword, and his breath hitched.

"How, how… how did you—"

Hercules was interrupted by the swing of the sword, and it punctured deep into Hercules's lung. Golden ichor of the gods poured from the wound when Percy ripped it out, and Hercules vomited more of the golden liquid.

"Tell me!" Percy demanded, slashing at Hercules's arm. "Tell me who the greatest hero of all time is!"

The look in Hercules's eyes told Percy that he wouldn't bow to the demigod no matter how much he tormented him. But Percy still was willing to put on a show. The shield of water that had been protecting him slowly descended upon Hercules, until it had balled into a small sphere of water. Then Percy viciously shoved it down the god's throat, and Hercules started drowning.

"How funny is it," Percy muttered, "that the son of Zeus died by a son of Poseidon's hand…"

Hercules's eyes opened wide and his arms thrashed wildly, but it was no use. The demigod was stronger than he was, and eventually, the god stopped writhing and lay still.

Percy had defeated the greatest hero to live.

Correction: the _second _greatest hero to live.

* * *

**Haha, I'm still laughing at the pun.**

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	14. For the Second Time

**You guys are awesome. Remember that.**

* * *

Perseus: Master of the Elements

**FOR THE SECOND TIME**

_"How funny is it," Percy muttered, "that the son of Zeus died by a son of Poseidon's hand…"_

_Hercules's eyes opened wide and his arms thrashed wildly, but it was no use. The demigod was stronger than he was, and eventually, the god stopped writhing and lay still._

_Percy had defeated the greatest hero to live._

_Correction: the second greatest hero to live._

**- Ω -**

**ANNABETH** walked amongst the wounded in the infirmary. The stench of blood and the cries of pain attacked her senses, and she felt as if she were going to vomit. One three-hour battle with the Romans and the dead count was already higher than the second Titan War. Luckily, it was worse for the Romans; the Greeks fought upon their own territory, and it was common knowledge that defending is easier than attacking.

Familiar faces flitted throughout her vision as Annabeth pointedly avoided eye contact, and she felt a little sigh of relief when she didn't see Davis's face amongst them. She didn't want to appear cruel and heartless, but Annabeth knew that if she went into a prolonged conversation with one of the wounded, she would end up bawling her eyes out and looking weak – and the last thing Annabeth wanted was to be thought of as _weak_.

Killing monsters was easy. There was no regret when a monster dissipated; they were soulless creatures that hunted demigods. But humans, Roman or not, shed blood. They live, they have lives, and they love and try their best to live in a very big world with very big people. It was wrong, Annabeth thought, when she saw Romans fight Greeks, old friends against friends – so this, the girl realized, was why the gods were mad at Hera when she mixed the two groups. They didn't want war to break out between the Greeks and Romans, but guess what happened.

Annabeth was good enough to use non-lethal methods. Even though all children of Athena hate Romans for sacking Athens, Annabeth managed to convince her brethren to try not to kill, but she knew that they were too inexperienced to do so. And it would've helped if the best fighters, the Ares cabin, even _attempted _to disarm them – Clarisse was an indomitable force on the field and she killed more Romans than Annabeth liked to think about. The Ares cabin hated Romans more than the Athenians did, and it was clearly shown in battle.

A cold hand grasped her shoulder, and Annabeth shuddered. Whirling around in a huff of annoyance, she found a shy Nico looking furiously at the ground. "What."

"Uh, the counsel wants you," he muttered. "War meeting, I think."

Annabeth nodded, and she started walking towards the exit of the infirmary with Nico, glad for an excuse to get out of this place of hurt and pain. The two walked in a rather comfortable silence before reaching the Big House, and when Annabeth opened the door she found that she was late. Mentally scolding herself, she pulled out a chair and sat down, taking out a notepad she brought with herself everywhere.

A salty breeze blew through the room and heads jerked towards the now open door, announcing the arrival of a disheveled Percy and a blushing Piper. They hurriedly took their seats, but Annabeth noticed the small tinge of red on Percy's cheeks and the little marks on his neck – oh, dear. His saltwater gaze met hers and Annabeth instinctively shrunk away, feeling her face heat up.

"So. Surprise meeting. This better be pretty important," Percy said, smiling a warm smile. Okay, so Percy didn't change that much, Annabeth noted. Him being gone for a couple of months didn't destroy his compassion. Piper had a small grin on her face that only Annabeth noticed.

"Yeah, who's the genius that called this?" Leo asked, feet resting on the edge of the Ping-Pong table.

"I don't know, but it's definitely important," Katie chided, folding her arms in a motherly-style. "We're in the middle of a war."

"That's your definition of a _war_, Katie?" Clarisse asked, actual shock reaching her eyes. "This was more of a… skirmish, one could say."

Annabeth felt herself detach from the conversation as they argued over and over about some pointless detail, and she felt a headache coming on. The unstoppable squabbling of the counselors sent her head an instant note saying, _hey, Annabeth's mind? Yeah, prepare for a damn big migraine_.

Time slowly slipped out of her grasp. Her head swam with confusion when she bothered to check on the conversation, and she heard things like, _we should definitely get some horses, cavalry and everything, _to more outrageous words such as, _who in the name of Zeus called this retarded and pathetic meeting?_ Apparently they were trying to figure out tactics such in order to defeat the Romans, but they were just causing more fighting to break out amongst themselves.

"Guys," Annabeth called out, asking for attention. She received none, and the girl started getting impatient. Banging her fist on the table and shouting, "Oi! Shut up," Annabeth managed to get the room to quiet down, which was a good thing, since Annabeth _hated _being ignored and probably would've castrated someone if she didn't get the spotlight.

"Yeah guys, listen to Annabeth," a smooth voice responded. "The girl has probably gotten a strategy already."

Glaring at Percy's sarcasm, Annabeth continued: "Guys, we really should be more united. The Romans pretty much listen to the Praetor's word while we are fighting over petty things and wasting valuable time."

"Octavian turned becoming Praetor into a dictatorship," Jason said quickly, eager to defend the Romans.

"Gosh," Annabeth muttered, "What I'm just trying to say is to be more united as a _whole_. Will that be so hard to do?"

Nods were given, and Annabeth sighed in content. At least the counselors listened to her suggestions and would be wise to continue doing so – not to brag or anything, but Annabeth was pretty sure that she was the smartest person there. _Hubris_, her deadly flaw, allowed her to think such thoughts without feeling slightly guilty. And the girl was right to think like that, for she was the smartest person in the room, but what she did _not_ know was that, one day, her pride will lead to a great defeat.

But that's too far into the future.

"Octavian has possibly a thousand troops under his command – all including cavalry, infantry, archers, stuff like that," Jason informed glumly. "All the citizens of New Rome will fight if necessary, and they _will _carry out the Praetor's words. But over three-fourths of his forces are probably retired; I would know because when I was Praetor, we had two hundred fifty campers at Camp Jupiter actively participating in the Legion. The other seven hundred fifty are all retired legionnaires living in New Rome."

"So what you're saying is that the Roman army is made up of two-fifty _actual _legionnaires, and that the rest of his forces are retired but still fight anyway," Katie said. Jason nodded, and the girl continued, "We're outnumbered four to one."

Jason nodded again, and Annabeth deflated a little bit. Camp Half-blood didn't even have horses, how were they going to compete against the Roman horsemen? "Let's focus on the more immediate problems," Annabeth decided. "Kind of like the group of Romans nestled at our front door."

"I say we smash them when they're still pitching tents," Travis said. Connor continued, "After all, they're probably beat and worn after that battle."

Clarisse's eyebrows arched and her mouth parted. "Holy Zeus – did you two just say something intelligent?"

"Yeah Clarisse," Katie added, "I was getting a similar vibe."

"Hey, war's a serious matter," Travis defended, eyes wide and sincere. "It's not something to joke about."

The mood in the room seemed to drop a few octaves. When the most joyful, carefree and happy-go-lucky kids at camp get serious, then Annabeth figured that serious stuff was about to go down. After all, the only time she had seen a Stoll behave so seriously was when Travis tried asking Katie out on a date – and _that _was a memory hard to forget, much to the disdain of the Hermes children.

"Let's go over statistics," Annabeth said, trying to change the subject and mood. "Does anyone know how many squares of ambrosia we have?"

"Three whole squares for each camper," Katie supplied, and Annabeth was slightly shocked. Way back in the Titan War, Annabeth remembered that the Hermes children had to steal mortal First-Aid kits to temporarily substitute nectar and ambrosia due to the shortage of supplies. Percy evidently felt the same way too, and his eyebrows were comically set in a way as if to say, "_Da heck you just say?_"

"Armor and weapons?"

"At least one set for each, assuming we still have two hundred fifty or so campers." This time it was Leo who supplied the data, being the son of Hephaestus and a natural around the forge. "Definitely good enough quality."

"Good. Anybody know the stats from the Roman side?"

This time, Frank, who hadn't said a single word yet, spoke up. "Guessing on how they fought, I'd say that Octavian brought about one hundred and fifty fresh soldiers. They definitely _weren't _retired soldiers."

"And they don't have cavalry," Hazel added. The little girl seemed shy and nervous speaking in front of so many people; her hand was subconsciously fanning her heating face. "But I have a question. Do we really have to do all this fighting and bloodshed? Why can't we, you know, strike a peace treaty?"

"Funny coming from a _Roman_," Clarisse sneered. "Romans are–"

"As long as Octavian lives, we–uh, the Romans will never give up," Jason interrupted, preventing an argument from happening. Annabeth was eternally grateful; her migraine just started settling down.

"Assassination?" Percy suggested, smiling innocently. "I saw him, Octavian – he's part of the one hundred fifty."

"I like that," a Stoll said. "Sneaky sneaky."

"I think assassination is out of the question," Annabeth argued. "Look, you guys are forgetting that the Romans have some sort of support. Even if we do neutralize the Romans, there will be other things to deal with. Hyperion, for example. The flaming idiot should be in Tartarus, but ever since Hades lost control of the Underworld…"

"Someone took over the Underworld." Nico looked uncomfortable sharing this information. "Someone powerful. Ancient. And I'll bet a couple of drachma that the Romans helped in some way."

Jason seemed to be visibly offended by this statement. Frank and Hazel seemed a bit uneasy, but if they were angry then they were hiding it well. Jason, on the other hand, exploded. "Romans don't deal with Titans. End of that."

Silence. Then:

"What took over the Underworld wasn't a Titan."

Eyes stared in wonder as Percy told them about Tartarus and Erebus.

* * *

**PERCY **stumbled into his cabin late at night, silently cursing the surprise meeting. It had left him drained, weary, and just plain out beat; plus, he was in the middle of a little "reunion" with Piper when a freaking naiad told him to report to the Big House.

And the stupid thing was, turned out that there was a miscommunication and that there wasn't supposed to be a meeting, but some idiots (the Stolls) decided to prank everyone at the most _inopportune _moment. The Greeks need to be organized and disciplined, not arguing and pranking each other, calling fake meetings and staging food fights in the mess hall.

To make matters worse, he was bombarded with questions on where he was during his eight month disappearance before, during, and after the meeting. Percy told them that he was away at his father's palace and returned when he learned that there was fighting going on. Gods, he had a headache right now. It was worse than taking that _Chimera _drug with the Primordials. He felt so annoyed and angry, almost ready to snap at little notice.

The boy undressed and plopped down onto his newly washed bed (which was nice, since this cabin hadn't been inhabited for eight months but was still washed anyways) and closed his eyes. Sighing slightly, Percy let sleep slowly engulf him. Like a silent claw, darkness crept over his mind until he no longer thought his own thoughts and instead his mind wandered, dreaming of random scenes and–

"Wake up, Perseus Jackson!"

With a startled yelp, Percy banged his head on the bottom of the bunk above him and shouted a colorful string of curse words. Luckily the cabin was soundproof; otherwise the other campers would've been woken up.

"Gods, what in my father's name…!"

Percy stopped when he saw who woke him up. Said father stood above him, wearing a casual Hawaiian t-shirt and khaki shorts, eyes glowing with smile wrinkles surrounding them, and fresh scent of salt water lazily hanging in the still air. Percy was slightly shocked. It wasn't everyday that your godly parent paid you visits, especially during a war. Plus, Percy thought there was some sort of Ancient Rule forbidding against that kind of stuff.

"… is your father doing here?" Poseidon finished for his son, grinning slightly before a more somber undertone took a hold of his facial expression.

"Yeah," Percy lamely said, and he sat down on the edge of his bed, carefully avoiding bumping his ehad on the upper bunk bed. "Why are you here?"

The god smiled sadly. "Can't a father spend some time with his son?"

"Not if he's an important Greek god who never visits," muttered Percy, and he was surprised to find a bitter tone creep into his voice.

"You know I'm not allowed to visit."

"Then why now?" Percy responded angrily, fisting the sheets underneath him. "Why not when my mother died? Why not when I found out my girlfriend cheated on me? Why not… why not… why didn't you ever come when I needed you the most?"

His unexpected outburst left Percy feeling raw, drained, and tired. Rubbing his surprisingly wet eyes, Percy rested his head against his blue pillow and willed himself to calm down. It was not fitting for a demigod to yell at a god like this, but everybody has his or her snapping point. Percy felt as if all his anger, all his feelings of resentment and hatred simply transformed into a state of melancholy and undeniable sadness, and he hated it, it made him weak – it made him vulnerable. Great heroes cannot be vulnerable or weak.

A soothing hand went through his hair. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't cut it."

"I really am."

Percy didn't even bother responding. Instead, the demigod let the silence rule unopposed. But eventually it became too stifling, his father's soothing hand felt too fake, and Percy was just sick of it all.

"Why do gods even pretend to care about their children?"

"We do care."

"That's a lie."

"No it isn't. We love all of our children."

A small pang of anger beat against Percy's veins. "Then why did the Titan War start? Didn't it start because the gods didn't care enough for their children?"

"We have changed, my son," Poseidon said, "for the better."

"Really," Percy said, voice dripping with sarcasm. He had so much he wanted to say, to rant about, to complain and quip about, but Percy decided that it was better if he didn't say those things out loud. By now, Percy was honestly sick of the gods, sick of them relying upon their children to do their dirty work and then turning the other way when they were in trouble. And what Percy hated above all was being a pawn, a pawn in the mighty chess game of the gods.

"Why'd you even bother coming?" Percy asked.

Poseidon seemed to think on this for a second. "Well, I'm just going to be blunt with you." He seemed to wait for Percy's approval, and when Percy gave him the nod to continue, the sea god started speaking again. "This civil war with the Romans won't last long."

"Really?"

"Yes. The gods know this. But, it's the war afterwards that will hurt the most."

Percy's mouth literally fell off. _Another damn war_? Poseidon, sensing his son's distress, quickly continued. "Demigods will die. Many demigods, both Greek and Roman. But… I don't want you to be a part of the dead. You belong on Olympus, feasting with the gods, or down in Atlantis with _me_."

Percy's mind whirred with thoughts, and then it suddenly all clicked. "So you want me to god."

"Precisely."

"In the middle of a war."

"… yes."

"Leaving behind all my friends."

"… in a way, yes."

"Then, no."

Poseidon sighed, exasperated, and rubbed his head. Why did his son have to be the hero? One of the many reasons Poseidon vowed to never have children again was because he hated watching them grow old and die as Zeus's children get the limelight and become gods – one demigod son turned god, that's all Poseidon ever wanted. Is that too much to ask?

"Percy, I want you to think about this."

Percy thought it over. He was reminded of a conversation he had with the Primordials. _And when you god, give this to the girl you love and she will join you in immortality. _The ring was still in his desk drawer, sealed in the small velvet box. _I don't want to become a god. _True, he didn't. _You have no choice_.

Oh yes he did.

"No, father, I would much rather slug it out and die with my friends than take the easy way and ditch all of them," Percy answered. "So, please don't waste anymore time, dad, and leave."

Poseidon nodded sadly, and he turned away. He had been expecting this answer, but a little part of him hoped that his son would just join him in immortality – Poseidon remembered the Three Fate's eerie words and how short Percy's life span seemed to be.

The door shut behind him, and the god disappeared in a flash of bright light.

The Savior of Olympus refused godhood for the second time.

* * *

**Sorry for not updating. It's probably really bad, but I felt as if I owed something to all of you faithful readers. I will continue this to the very end, and then some. This chapter, or the latter part of it, was composed in order to show some of Percy's bitterness.**

**See ya, and have a nice day.**


	15. Better and Better

**EDITED: 3/30/2013**

* * *

**I wrote this on my iPhone, since my computer has been going AWOL. Since the iPhone has weird autocorrect, I may have some incorrect spelling and grammar or missing punctuation. I apologize in advance for such inconveniences.**

**Without further ado:**

* * *

Perseus: Master of the Elements

**BETTER AND BETTER**

_"No, father, I would much rather slug it out and die with my friends than take the easy way and ditch all of them," Percy answered. "So, please don't waste anymore time, dad, and leave."_

_Poseidon nodded sadly, and he turned away. He had been expecting this answer, but a little part of him hoped that his son would just join him in immortality – Poseidon remembered the Three Fate's eerie words and how short Percy's life span seemed to be._

_The door shut behind him, and the god disappeared in a flash of bright light._

_The Savior of Olympus refused godhood for the second time._

**- Ω -**

**PERCY** woke up, suddenly aware of a foreign presence.

What was this sudden intrusion of privacy? Percy felt something warm, something comfortable on his chest – could it be…? His right hand found a mass of chocolate brown hair, straight and soft, and a flawless, soft cheek. Smiling, Percy stroked the girl's cheek and felt her smile. But something was wrong; her cheeks were wet and her breathing was uneven.

"Piper," Percy asked tenderly, willing the water in her tears to dissolve, "what's wrong?"

She didn't answer. Percy rolled over so that he was on top and staring into the kaleidoscopic eyes of his girlfriend. They flashed various colors, a warm chocolate brown, a stormy gray, a bright, electric blue, and then a sea green that rivaled his own. All of these colors where so pretty – Percy could stare into them endlessly and get lost in the swirl of color.

Piper wouldn't look him in the eye. Instead, Percy started memorizing every single detail and feature of Piper's face; her small dimple that appears whenever she smiles, the small freckles on her nose that one could only see if they were as close as Percy was right now, and the tiny sparkle in her eyes whenever she talked about something she liked.

"Please?" he murmured, mouth attacking Piper's exposed neck. Percy suckled and bit a trail up to her mouth, where he stopped and watched her. "Tell me what's bothering you."

"I had a bad dream," Piper whispered, still not meeting his eyes. Percy frowned.

Percy rolled to the side and hugged Piper tightly, not wanting to let go of her. She seemed so fragile, so delicate, so pure, and so so innocent - just like when he comforted her about Jason, and the boy couldn't bear the thought of her getting hurt. "It'll make you feel better if you tell me about it."

Piper nodded, and for the first time she met his eyes. "I'm scared, Percy."

"There's nothing to be scared about. When this is all over, I'll build you a house on the waves, just for you and me to live in."

"No," Piper said, "nothing for you to be scared about. What do you have to be scared about? For Zeus's sake, you've defeated Titans, Giants, Gaea herself, you've featured in so many prophesies, and you're just so powerful and everybody looks up to you…"

"More the reason to be scared, Piper," Percy said softly.

Piper buried her head into the crook of Percy's neck. "What are you scared of?"

Taking a deep breath of Piper's intoxicating scent, Percy answered, "I'm scared of my friends dying, of not being able to protect what family I have left, of being alone and living without you."

"Shut up, you're just saying that because–"

"Because I mean it, and it is true."

"Why can't I be a hero like you?"

"You can't become something you already are."

"I'm no hero."

"Neither am I."

"I'm not brave."

"You think I am?"

"You're saying this just to make me feel better."

"I'm saying this because I love you."

Piper rolled away from Percy, silent tears wetting his shirt and sheets and eyes staring into his with disbelief. Her words got stuck in her throat and Percy stared at the daughter of Aphrodite, waiting for the familiar answer.

Silence.

When Piper remained silent and turned away from him, Percy felt his heart throb painfully. He was sure that Piper loved him back, it was obvious – she loved him as much as she loved her right? Or had he been too stupid to notice that she changed in the months that he was gone. They dated for less than a week and Percy had no doubt in his mind about his feelings for Piper, but something Percy failed to observe was whether or not she returned his feelings.

Oh gods. This was terrible. He had said that _way too soon_.

So this is what rejection feels like, Percy thought. The dull, painful throb of his heart pounded ceaselessly, allowing him no rest from the cursed feeling. She loved him before he left, that was sure – he could see the happiness in her eyes when he promised her immortality. But now it had been months since they had seen each other; Percy thought about her daily, but what about Piper?

He just assumed that she'd love him as much as he loved her. He was wrong. In fact, Percy wasn't sure if she even liked him anymore. Maybe she was going to break up with him right now, and Percy ruined it by telling her that he loved her. What if she felt too guilty to do it? Percy knew that Piper was too sweet of a person to do something like that.

Right?

But now Piper rolled back onto Percy's chest and curled into a ball, and Percy was left with more questions than he could handle.

* * *

**PERCY**'s morning was one of the worst. First off, when he woke up, the boy realized that Piper had disappeared in the night. Then he bumped his head against the top bunk, cursed loudly, and then stubbed his toe on the way to the water fountain. After that, he remembered his late night conversation with Piper and the dull throbbing pain returned to his chest – she didn't even trust him!

Dressing hastily, he was told by a shadow-traveling Nico that there was another council meeting – damn right, another meeting – and didn't even have time to go to breakfast. When he entered the room, it turned out that he was late and was reprimanded by Chiron in front of everyone, and to make things even _better_, Thalia and the huntresses were here to help in the war effort!

Which, of course, resulted in getting a bolt of electric pain up Percy's butt and a few giggling girls.

So, to say, Percy's day was absolutely fine and dandy.

"The casualties have been counted," Chiron announced grimly. "Both Roman and Greek."

Nobody said a word. A type of nervous tension descended upon the room, causing everybody to shiver. Percy noted, with a start, that Piper wasn't there. Instead, Drew Tanaka was in her place.

Chiron took a deep breath. "Forty-five wounded Greek demigods, unknown number of Romans wounded, four Greek demigods missing in action, ten Romans taken prisoner…"

Everyone was silent, waiting for Chiron to speak.

"Twenty-four confirmed Roman deaths and nineteen Greek demigod deaths."

"Oh gods…" Percy heard someone say, and everybody else just looked downwards. Nobody dared to speak a word. Heads bowed in a silent prayer towards the fallen, praying a safe passage to Elysium.

"Well, at least we came out on top," Clarisse said in a futile attempt to cheer everyone up.

"We can't do this," Katie announced. Many agreed with her. "We can't. I… I can't."

"We have to," Annabeth responded. "Otherwise, they would do the same to us. In fact, I could bet that the Romans are having the same conversation right now and that they are just as unwilling to fight as we are."

"My cabin," Travis ventured cautiously, voice dripping with emotion, "smells of blood, and sweat, and tears, and I believe that none of us want to fight anymore."

"You Hermes bunch has always been cowards," Clarisse sneered. "And will forever be."

Connor snarled. "At least we're not heartless assholes like you who kill people just for the sake of killing people!"

"Stop it, stop it right now!"

Heads turned, startled at the angry voice. Surprisingly Drew spoke up, voice completely free of charmspeech. Her defiant brown eyes glittered as she stood up and slammed her small hands onto the top of the table. "People are dying and all you do is argue!"

"Drew is right," Percy said, "all you do is argue. Argue ceaselessly, endlessly, forever talking about stuff that doesn't even matter. Look guys, we don't have a prophesy. Rachel hasn't even sprouted one after the Prophesy of the Seven. So I'm definitely sure that this fight with the Romans wasn't even supposed to happen."

"Well it did, and look at what happened!" Connor snapped, but he seemed uncertain of what Percy was driving at.

"Look, Connor. The Romans don't hate us. Jason, Frank, Hazel; they are all examples that Romans do mix well with Greeks. But do you know who does hate us?"

"Octavian," Annabeth answered, suddenly aware of where Percy was going.

"Exactly. Guys, Rome is a mob. It will follow whoever is in power, but if their leader is suddenly gone, then they will follow the next guy in line, correct?"

Jason nodded, and when the blond son of Jupiter nodded the rest of the council nodded as well. Jason would know, he, after all, had been good enough at manipulating Roman politics to get himself the position of Praetor at such a young age.

"So we take out their leader," Percy said, "and they will fall to us."

Everybody took a while to digest what Percy said. Maybe, just maybe, it would work.

"An assassination," Annabeth cleared.

Percy nodded. "Exactly."

"I like that idea," Travis said. Connor finished off his brother's thought. "That way there wouldn't be any more casualties."

"I thought I told you guys," Annabeth piped, "that an assassination won't work. The Romans are working with–"

"Correction," Percy interrupted. "Octavian is working with the Primordials. If we unite both the Greeks and the Romans, we can take on the monsters with our united strength."

"So an assassination, eh?" Clarisse smiled. "I like that idea. I elect Prissy to be the assassin."

"Whoa, hold up guys," Percy held up a hand to stop the sudden eruption of excited talking. "Wouldn't Nico make a much better choice? Son of Hades, no?"

"Perce, if you went in, the mission would be like for sure done." Nico was definitely not willing to go on an assassination attempt. Son of Hades and everything aside, it was more of Nico's style to fight someone out in the open.

"Percy, if you went in naked and with your arms tied around your back you would still be able to assassinate Octavian," Travis joked, mood much lighter than before. "Then he could maybe set everything on fire on the way out."

"I'm not sure guys." Annabeth looked at Percy, smiling wryly. "Percy's not exactly the stealthiest guy out there. I would know."

Thalia laughed. "He can practice by trying to sneak past the huntresses' tents. We'd be more than happy to... help, in a way."

Everybody laughed, glad to have something to be happy about. The mood was considerably lighter than it was just a few minutes ago. Now everybody was smiling and joking about how the various ways Percy could assassinate Octavian –_ I bet that all Percy would have to do is flex his muscles. That would for sure knock him out_.

The talking stopped when Clarisse raised her hand.

"If Prissy gets discovered, he'll just drown everybody. All in favor of Percy going in to assassinate Octavian?"

Everyone except for Percy raised their hands.

___This day just gets better and better._

* * *

**PERCY** tried on the armor that Reyna and Jason had given him months ago.

The armor itself was insanely badass. The word badass was probably made to describe the suit of armor, which was black and accented by red. It came with a red hood and a red cape that attached itself to the black chest piece, which had the eagle of Rome decorating the front of the upper body.

The armor moved smoothly and was lightweight and quiet. With the hood on, Percy looked like so menacing that one would get shivers just by looking at him.

The battle plan came from Annabeth; he was to meet her on the beach in order for a mission briefing. When Percy arrived on the beach, he found the daughter of Athena sitting there alone, studying a map of some sort.

"Hey Seaweed Brain," Annabeth greeted softly, not even looking up from the map.

"Wise Girl."

It was a sort of formal greeting between the two. The names had long since lost their affection, but they kept it for old time's sake. But somehow, Percy's heart still twisted whenever he heard Annabeth call him by the nickname - there was something in the way she said it that implied that the old affection was still there. And when those piercing gray eyes locked with his own...

"So, how are things?" Annabeth's tone was light, but her eyes betrayed a sense of unfounded nervousness.

Percy shrugged. "I've had better days."

"You've been elected as an assassin, Percy," Annabeth reminded. "That's a pretty high honor."

"Argh, screw honor. I just don't want to fight anything anymore, but after Octavian's out of the picture, we're going to have to march on the Underworld."

Annabeth looked confused. "Why would we have to march on the Underworld?"

"Hades helped us immensely in the Titan War. Now he needs our help to regain his domain, and if you guys are too tired to fight then I'll go alone." Percy spoke with such a fierce determination that it even surprised Annabeth - and Annabeth is never surprised.

"Right, one step at a time, Percy," Annabeth said. She laid out the map in front of Percy to see. It was a hand drawn map of a fort - most likely the Roman camp. "Let's get this done first."

"This is where Octavian is holed up?"

"Yeah, thanks to Frank's eagle eye and amazing memory," Annabeth laughed. "He has the memory of an elephant."

"Probably because he can turn into one."

Annabeth laughed and put her head on Percy's shoulder, smiling into his chest. Instantly Percy stiffened, and Annabeth, realizing the size of her blunder, quickly sat up straight, albeit with a scarlet face.

"Sorry Percy," Annabeth muttered, in a voice Percy could barely hear, "it's just that... old habits die hard."

Percy nodded and returned analyzing the map. Annabeth remained in silence, looking down at the map with him, occasionally casting a small glance at him. Sighing, Percy ran a hand through his hair - this was going to be a lot more difficult than he thought.

"This fort is in a triangle."

"Thanks, Captain Obvious," came Annabeth's sarcastic reply.

"With three heavily guarded entrances."

"Yeah. We've already worked our way-"

Percy waved his hand. "Just tell me where Octavian is and I'll do the rest."

"You must understand that it's much more complicated than that," Annabeth told him. "Reyna's there too."

Percy's interest was immediately sparked when he heard his friend's name. She had co-Praetored with him for a while and they had grown quite close. "Where is she?"

"See this tower?" Annabeth gestured towards a tower located in the centre of the fort. After Percy's nod of confirmation, Annabeth continued. "Octavian has got her locked up at the very top of it. Just like Rapunzel. The other four M.I.A. campers also appear to be locked up with her."

"Then where is Octavian?"

"I don't know. Frank observed all this in pigeon form, and he said that Octavian moved around, never quite staying in one place at a time."

Percy smiled. "Well I guess that that makes it a lot more fun, right?"

Nodding, a look of worry came over Annabeth's face. "Percy, there are roughly one hundred demigods in that camp, how on earth are you going to sneak in?"

"Let me ask you this," Percy asked. "Do ravens look suspicious at night?"

"No, not at all, but why-"

"Well then that settles it!" Percy stood up, smiling his little grin towards Annabeth. "See ya."

"Percy, wait," Annabeth said, grabbing his wrist. "As much as I'd like to see your ego knocked down, please..."

"Please what?"

"Don't get hurt," Annabeth murmured, not daring to meet his eyes. "Light the tower on fire when you have assassinated the target and rescued the five POWs."

"Yes ma'am," Percy said, slightly mockingly, before playfully punching the girl in the arm. Annabeth scowled at him, and Percy retreated from the beach.

Needless to say, Percy was looking forward to the night.

* * *

**PIPER** messed up big time.

The daughter of Aphrodite rarely wanted to cry, but when she went to Percy in the middle of the night sobbing her heart out because of a nightmare where Percy turned evil, Piper felt as if she wanted to cry a river of tears. Not only had Percy reassured her; he told her he loved her, and for some gods forsaken reason, Piper found it impossible to say anything back.

She was a coward.

Percy was different when he arrived in the middle of battle. He was more regal in stature yet he didn't seem to age a bit, more confident in poise, and even borderline cocky and arrogant. Piper was scared that the son of Poseidon she had come to love changed - colder to those around him, and just held himself with a superior air, but he didn't change at heart and Piper knew that.

Last night was testimony that the person she had fallen for, the sweet, sincere, blubbering, idiotic son of Poseidon was still there at heart, and she was so overcome with emotion that even words failed her. The way he looked at her sent shivers of pleasure down her body - his eyes watched her with such tenderness and obvious love that it was heartbreaking to her at how she didn't even reply to his declaration of love.

And when he said that little piece about building her a house upon the waves... Percy had no idea how big of a deal that was to her.

She was going to make amends. Piper decided to find Percy and tell him she loved him.

Since Piper knew Percy well, she assumed that he would be at the beach. Piper was right, but she would never have guessed who was at the beach with him.

Annabeth. _Annabeth Chase_.

Percy whispered something to Annabeth and cause her to laugh, throwing her head back and onto Percy's shoulder. The scene looked so perfect and unreal and the two looked like a happy couple - Piper felt a sharp pain lace through her chest before turning around and stomping away, away from the smiling heads of Percy and Annabeth.

She should've known this would happen. She should've know that this is what would happen because of her stupidity.

Piper McLean cried that day. And she cried without regrets.

* * *

**REYNA** sighed, bored, finger fumbling with the stupid dress Octavian made for her.

It was a sweet gesture, but couldn't the idiot see that she hated him? After being locked up in a tower for weeks without human contact, Reyna was about to take her chances and try to climb down the walls.

Suddenly, a small bird flew in through the open window. Reyna looked at the bird, a raven, curiously. The poor creature, it probably had gotten lost in the darkness. Reyna turned around to get a blanket for the poor bird, but when she turned around her heart nearly stopped.

Percy Jackson stood there, smiling at her shocked expression.

Of course, that's when the alarms went off.

* * *

**Thanks for reading, guys! Sorry for the late update, but I am happy to say that we are almost at 1000 reviews! There is no prize for being the 1000th reviewer, however. I noticed that there was an insane drop in reviews for the last chapter, so I am assuming that you were all dissapointed in it.  
**

**Anyways, thanks for reading, and as always, review!**

**The sooner we get to 1k the faster the update!**


	16. The Assassin's Creed

Perseus: Master of the Elements

**THE ASSASSIN'S CREED**

_Suddenly, a small bird flew in through the open window. Reyna looked at the bird, a raven, curiously. The poor creature, it probably had gotten lost in the darkness. Reyna turned around to get a blanket for the poor bird, but when she turned around her heart nearly stopped._

_Percy Jackson stood there, smiling at her shocked expression._

_Of course, that's when the alarms went off._

**- Ω -**

**REYNA **was hyperventilating.

Mere seconds ago, where a raven had stood, Percy Jackson, savior of Olympus twice over, was just about to say something when the most opportune thing happened – the alarms started blaring.

_Idiot. Didn't he know that there were cameras in this room?_

* * *

An hour before all that happened, **PERCY **stood among the wounded in the infirmary. He was trying his best to help without becoming exhausted; after all, he needed energy for the possibly dangerous mission up ahead. However, the demigod was still trying his best to help the Apollo campers out by using water to heal some of the less serious wounds.

When a shadow-traveling Nico – _gods damn it, Nico DiAngelo, again? – _informed Percy that the time had come to embark on his mission, Percy attempted to look for Piper. The feeling of rejection never left him and he desperately wanted to clear any problems between him and Piper, but the girl was nowhere to be found.

"Nico," Percy called, drawing the weary sixteen year old to attention, "I need you to do me a favor."

"Sure, fire away," was the nonchalant reply.

Percy grabbed Nico's shoulders and turned him so they were looking at each other. "When I'm on the mission, find Piper. Just… make sure she's safe. I haven't seen her all day and I just want to make–"

"I'll find your girlfriend, Perce," Nico laughed, "and I'll make sure that the pretty little brown strands of hair on her head were untouched by monsters, that her little kaleidoscopic eyes shed no tears, and that–"

Nico was silenced by a swift punch to the gut. "I'm being serious."

"So was I."

"I swear that I will find out who you like one day, DiAngelo," Percy threatened. "And I promise that when I do, I will make your life a living inferno of hell."

"Alright, good luck with that!" Nico replied cheerily, and he stalked off, leaving Percy at the borders of camp and at the beginning of the forest.

"Remember Percy," Nico warned, "no casualties!"

Percy scoffed at Nico's cheeky attitude. Normally the son of Hades was a quiet and somber fellow, but whenever he was alone with Percy, the son of Poseidon somehow managed to find a way to coax him out of the shell he had developed.

Sighing, Percy willed himself to turn into a raven. When he did, the boy felt a little bit queasy at having his bones suddenly disproportioned and quickly adjusted to his new wings. Having not turned into bird form for a while, Percy felt a little apprehensive when he flew into the air, but after a while he grew used to the sensation. Flying towards the northeast direction and over the forest, Percy observed the wild life with an eye as sharp as an eagle's.

Gliding in the air felt nice to him; although Percy knew that he should probably slow down. No raven flew in the air as fast as a hawk. Nevertheless, Percy retained his speed and headed towards a suspiciously tall, untree-like object. When Percy neared it, he realized that it was a skinny, cobblestone tower. _This should be the place_, Percy thought. _Some random fort doesn't just rise out of the ground._

Still soaring through the air, Percy's mind wandered, thinking about various things before ultimately landing on the thought of Piper.

Percy inwardly frowned at thinking at Piper. Now Percy understood what Poseidon had meant when he had called his late mother a queen among mortals; Percy felt as if Piper was a goddess among demigods. Whenever Percy saw her – regardless of how she looked, what she wore – he felt nothing but an odd, raw emotion, and a strong desire gather her up into his arms and never let go. Percy couldn't quite fathom why he had fallen so hard so quickly, but he had had a long ten years of contemplation in another dimension and the feeling still never changed when he set eyes on her.

Some say that once man had four arms, two faces and four legs, but Zeus, fearing how powerful men could become, tore man in half – dooming them to spend the rest of their lives in search of their other half.

And Percy felt as if Piper was his other half.

So deep had Percy's musings been that his small bird body crashed into the cobblestone tower, falling in a spiral of feathers towards the dirt path. He barely managed to flap his wings and fly away before a group of legionnaires could trample him in bird form.

He flew towards the cobblestone tower. It would be more efficient to get Reyna and the four other Greek prisoners of war to safety before dealing with Octavian, Annabeth had explained. Then Percy could spend his sweet time with Octavaian. Percy had very much desired to watch Octavian die, but he'd never thought that he would be blessed with the opportunity to deal out justice himself. The monster had harmed and killed so many demigods just on a quest for personal power… Percy shuddered. _The way power corrupts some people_, Percy thought.

Everybody naturally lusts for power. But the way people are defined is whether or not they act upon it. Would they endlessly search for power, not caring about who got in the way of their personal conquest? Or would they shove the desire down a deep hole and hide it away from others? That separates the good from the bad, the heroes from the villains – but there is a fine line between good and evil.

Percy sighed. That was the least of his concerns. Reyna was in need of help, and Percy had to deliver. Something bothered Percy, though – it was a feeling that this fort brought. It was made out of cobblestone and a little bit of marble, rising up from a forest clearing. The fort was old; the stones had moss on them and the cobblestone tower was definitely impossible to build in a day. Percy figured that it must have been here before the Romans came or they had built it in advance – it looked like it was a few years old!

Percy was going to have a few words with Jason and Reyna when he returned from this mission.

He flew through an open window at the top of the tower, zooming in at high speeds and landing on a table in what seemed to be a comfortable-looking room. There was a friendly fire burning in a side of the room and bookcases lining the walls opposite of the beds glinted in the merry flame. A small couch and TV decorated the otherwise cozy looking apartment, and in truth, it seemed more like someone's apartment than a prison.

Percy spotted a dark hair brunette who seemed to be frightened by his bird form's sudden presence. When she turned around and reached for something, Percy could clearly see the SPQR tattoo on the side of her arm and many lines indicating a long time of service to the Legion. Willing himself into human form, Percy was waiting to hear his old friend's startled reaction when the most unexpected thing happened.

Alarms rang.

"Gods damn it Perseus Jackson!" Reyna cursed. "There's cameras in this room, moron!"

Percy stood still for a second. Then, a plethora of curse words strung from the hero's mouth and caused Reyna to stifle a laugh – now was _not _the moment to laugh at a son of Poseidon's sailor talk. "Where are the others?"

"Others?" Reyna cocked her head to the side, studying Percy warily. "I'm the only occupant of this tower."

"The Greek prisoners of war?"

"Greek prisoners of war?"

Percy felt a nauseating sensation enter his body. _They could've done anything to the prisoners. _"Reyna, you don't know where they are?"

The girl shook her head, still slightly confused.

"I will disappear. Destroy the cameras in this room. Right now." The shadows sucked Percy out of sight.

Reyna nodded, and in her dainty white sleeveless dress she picked up a flowerpot and tossed it out of the window. Then she went to the book case in the corner of the and selected a book, _A Series of One Shots_, and threw it into the fire, where the burning of a metallic object was heard.

"Shame, I thought it was a good book before I realized it had a cam in it. What now?"

"Help me barricade the door." Percy appeared and started pushing one of the book cases towards the French door. Reyna helped him lean the couch against the door, and a heavy thumping noise could be heard on the other side.

"They're here." she reported.

"I'm going to go right now, Reyna," Percy told her. "I need you to trust me. I am going to lure Octavian into this building, and then I will set it aflame. No doubt he will have a bodyguard of his most loyal followers. They will all burn and die in a crumbling tower. Meanwhile, I'm going to need you to stay in this room for as long as possible. I am going to retrieve the other Greek demigods and return them to camp, then I will come to you, okay?"

Reyna nodded, although she was slightly apprehensive of staying in a burning tower. But she knew, as stupid as this plan seemed, that if there was someone to trust, it would be Percy Jackson.

* * *

**PERCY **did some sort of leap of faith when he jumped out of Reyna's tower. He willed the ground to cushion his fall, allowing him to land on his feet silently. Now fully clothed in his black and red armor of Rome, Percy looked around to check if anyone had seen him land. Nobody was in sight. There seemed to be a ruckus near the entrance of the tower though, so now was the time Percy decided to go and retrieve the prisoners of war.

Cautious, Percy transformed into a black raven before taking off into the air, silently watching the movements of the Romans. The prisoners should be located where there were a lot of soldiers – it was logical reasoning. Most of the Roman legionnaires where armed, standing guard at the base of the cobblestone tower, but the rest of them seemed to be gathering in the Roman forum. Percy quickly soared towards the forum and landed on a table, upsetting a glass cup and knocking it to the floor. For some odd reason, nobody seemed to notice; their attention was riveted on something else.

Curious and intrigued, Percy shape shifted back into his human form and stood at the back of the crowd. He put up his hood, which was magically enhanced to hide his eyes. Then he tuned in to what a person near the announcement area of the forum was saying. From the lean body and the long hair, Percy deduced that the person speaking was the centurion of the Fifth Cohort, Gwen something – her full name slipped from his grasp at the current moment.

"That is it for the announcements for today. On the other hand, our general would like to make speak." Her tone was impassive and detached and her gaze was empty and lifeless. Percy wondered whether or not she was victim to some sort of mind control.

A man in purple armor strode out from his still position, glancing around at the faces of demigods before him. His features were contorted with distaste as he eyed the legionnaires, showing obvious hatred for demigods, or mortals, for that matter. "We lost yesterday."

It was a statement. The man spoke with such venom, with such harshness that Percy noticed how half the Romans in the crowd cringed at the words. "We cannot afford to be defeated by foolish spawns of _Athena _or singlehandedly routed by a son of Poseidon. That is not the Roman way! Centuries back, we have defeated these Greeks, and now, today, in the modern, twenty-fist century, I say that we will defeat them once again!"

Some of the Romans in the crowd cheered, but Percy noticed how the vast majority of them said and did nothing.

"We march to battle again tomorrow," the man continued. "I expect no mercy. We have ample supplies and reinforcements. I just want to ask you this: what is it that you are scared of? What causes your purple shields to quake and your golden swords to waver?

"Is it the son of Poseidon? I'm going to tell you this, right here and right now, so listen carefully. All rumors you hear about him is exaggerated. It is a tool to the Greeks. They want us to fear him. But in reality, he can easily be defeated. With teamwork and determination, any foe will fall to the Romans. If not, I will take him on myself. He is a man, after all, and men can be destroyed and killed."

"You stand no chance!" a defiant voice yelled, and Percy's head quickly jerked in that direction. "He will crush you like all the others!"

The four prisoners. They were chained to the wall with what appeared to be imperial gold chains. Two were small children, possibly ten or eleven, but the other two were old-timers – quite possibly veterans of the Titan War. Yes, he recognized the older ones. One was Jake Mason, a reliable son of Hephaestus – his own lieutenant during the rescue mission at Camp Jupiter – and the other Miranda Gardener, a quiet daughter of Demeter. To see his two friends chained up against the wall in such a haphazard fashion caused Percy's blood to boil and his hands ball into a tight fist.

"And who do you think you are, _puny demigod_?"

Before Jake could answer, Percy swept his hand and extinguished all the torches in the forum. Panicked by the sudden darkness, the Romans started hurrying around in an attempt to relight the fire, but Percy willed the darkness to become so black that the people could barely see their own hands. Cries of fright were heard, and Percy could literally _feel _the fear rolling off of the Romans.

Using the darkness to his advantage, Percy sensed the heat coming off the bodies of the Romans and used it as a sort of night vision. Walking silently, Percy made his way towards the impressive stature of the general, pushing whatever Roman got in his way. As he stepped onto the wooden floor of the announcement stage, the floorboards creaked and the general's face snapped towards Percy. The assassin knew that the general couldn't see him.

"Roman! Do not come upon the stage without permission," the general barked.

"What makes you think I'm a Roman?" Percy replied dangerously. The attention of the Romans instantly riveted towards where his voice was heard.

The general suddenly started giving off an aura of fear. Percy walked stealthily towards the right, circling around the still general. The heat signatures of the Romans told him that they were too frozen with fear to move – it was then when he decided to put on a spectacular show.

"Show yourself," the general demanded. "I am Pallas, Titan of War!"

Percy was behind Pallas when he heard him speak. Darkness shrouded his every movement. Controlling his voice, he spoke, magnifying his voice so it would be heard everywhere in the fort. Percy put an ethereal feel to it, just to instill fear into the heart of the Romans.

"_I am the Master of the Elements_."

Percy's body burst into flames, blinding everybody in a fiery glow of red-hot fire. The Romans' blood curling scream echoed into the night. Pallas whipped around; only to be met by a massive halberd slicing his head clean off of his body, causing him to promptly disintegrate into golden powder. Before anyone had time to react, Percy willed the flames to disappear. The darkness closed in around the Romans again, an image of a fiery demon forever imprinted into their minds.

Without wasting time, Percy went towards the heat signatures chained onto the walls. Using Calamity, he chopped off the imperial gold chains with little problem. "Everybody hold hands," he whispered to the prisoners, and he saw them link together. He grabbed the hand of one of the younger demigods and quickly led them out of the forum. The place was in an uproar with blind demigods scrambling about, and Percy easily led the four prisoners out of the forum. He ran through the mazelike alleys throughout the fort and hit the wall, where he kept his left hand against the fort wall and ran forwards, eventually leading himself to a massive gate.

Without hesitation, Percy raised a large chunk of the stone street, creating a hole in the ground, and hurled it towards the gate, knocking it off its hinges. Wordless, Percy led the prisoners outside of the triangular fort and lit a small fire within the palm of his free hand.

"You can let go of each other's hands, now."

Jake Mason, looking inquisitively at Percy's armor, whistled. "Hullo, Perce."

Miranda beamed and gave Percy a giant hug, and although the girl was older than he was, Percy was delighted to find that he was a good few inches taller than she was. The two younger demigods hung behind Jake, still shivering slightly.

"Stay here. I'm lighting the fort on fire, and I swear I will come back for you guys," Percy told the four. "Actually," he added as an afterthought, "hide along the edge of the forest. When I come back, I am going to have the entire Roman legion marching behind me."

Miranda gasped slightly. "What? Percy, you don't think that–"

But he was gone.

* * *

**PERCY **walked through the streets of the fort, which now, to him, seemed more like a small city.

He heard a massive commotion in the direction of the tower. Instantly, he assumed his raven form and flew towards the sound, and he saw a mob of Romans near the bottom of the tower. Percy landed on the roof of the building directly across from the tower and returned to his human form. His hood still down, a wind caught Percy's cape and it billowed from behind him. Colors danced across his armor as the torchlight flickered, and a few Romans seemed to notice him.

With a small grin, Percy diminished the glow of the torches and gathered shadows around him, immediately disappearing from view. He caught a few Romans coming out of the entrance of the tower. He searched for the pale blond hair of Octavian, but he couldn't find him anywhere. Perhaps he was wearing a helmet…? No, none of the Romans were wearing any helmets.

_Where in Hades could that _augur _be_?

Frustrated, Percy leaped from the building, deciding that a change in strategy was a good idea. In midair, Percy's body burst into flame and he heard screams of recognition and fear. He landed on one knee and smashed his fist into the ground, sending a shockwave through the ground and knocking everyone off his or her feet. His body was still on fire, hot flames emitting a dark, thick smoke that curled into the air.

Everybody was silent and still. Nobody dared to move.

Wordlessly, Percy bolted towards the open tower doors. In an instant he was inside, and two shocked Romans barely spoke a word before Percy knocked them out. He willed the fire on his body to form a humanoid shape, and using that he sent it up the spiraling staircase.

Percy heard people yelling, but he couldn't make out the words. Suddenly, the door to the tower busted open, and in poured five Romans in purple armor. The Romans seemed to be of a higher stature than the others – on the back of their armor, there was a golden "O."

_Octavian's honor guard, _Percy thought to himself.

"It went up the stairs," one of them breathlessly said. The five hurried up the stairs, following Percy's decoy, not even noticing the man hiding in the shadows.

The doors shut right after allowing another person to enter. Percy's blood boiled at the sight of his target, Octavian. The augur was wearing a white toga and a purple cape of the Praetor hung from his scrawny shoulders. In a flash, Percy's fist slammed into Octavian's side, making the augur crumple under the force of his punch. Holding his hands at the base of Octavian's neck, Percy pushed him up against the wall, eliciting a cry of pain from the skinny boy.

"Who were those five people?" Percy demanded.

Octavian looked at his assailant with fear. "My closest advisors and champions."

Nodding, a small smile appeared under Percy's red hood. He slammed his fist into Octavian's windpipe, severely damaging the boy's throat. The augur spluttered for breath and his hand groped wildly for his attacker, but Percy danced beyond his reaches.

"You will all burn," muttered Percy coldly, and he withdrew a small vial from his armor's pocket. "This is Formula X. A substance capable of burning nearly everything solid the world has to offer."

Percy threw the vial at the augur and it burst into green flames. Octavian's painful scream pierced the night, and Percy could hear footsteps coming down the stairs. Without any delay, he started walking up the steps. Percy took one last glance at Octavian's burning body and changed into a raven, flying past the surprised Roman guard and up towards the top of the tower.

Percy withdrew another small vial and threw it at the wooden stairs, a flash of brilliant green greeting his vision before he turned away and tried to open Reyna's door. Then he remembered that he had helped Reyna blockade the door, so he sent a fireball towards it. It blasted open with the force of a hand grenade, and Percy was nearly thrown off of the narrow platform. He quickly dashed into the room before the platform itself burst into green flames.

And then, just like the first time he had walked into the room, something surprised him.

_BONG!_

* * *

**Hey guys! I'd just like to say thank you to those who reviewed, and I am glad to say that we are roughly 50 reviews away from 1k! I really appreciate those of you who have followed, favorited, or reviewed my story. Have a nice April, and once again, thank you. Reviews make me update faster! **


	17. Change of Plan

**Yes!**

**We did it! Or, should I say, **_**you **_**guys/gals did it. The story has hit 1k reviews. Thank you to those who reviewed, you really made me **_**super **_**happy.**

* * *

Perseus: Master of the Elements

**CHANGE OF PLAN**

_Percy withdrew another small vial and threw it at the wooden stairs, a flash of brilliant green greeting his vision before he turned away and tried to open Reyna's door. Then he remembered that he had helped Reyna blockade the door, so he sent a fireball towards it. It blasted open with the force of a hand grenade, and Percy was nearly thrown off of the narrow platform. He quickly dashed into the room before the platform itself burst into green flames._

_And then, just like the first time he had walked into the room, something surprised him._

BONG!

**- Ω -**

Dazed, hurt, and confused, **PERCY** fell backwards, barely managing to steady himself before falling out the door and into a burning tower. His hand instantly went to his cheek, where a large bruise was rapidly forming. Gritting his teeth, Percy glared at Reyna, who was blushing profusely. He sucked the water out of the air and gently coated his cheek with it, feeling the cool water gently fix his wound until it was good as new.

"What in _Hades _was that, Rey?" Percy asked, stepping into the room.

Reyna held up a frying pan. "Hey, I thought a bunch of mad Romans busted into my room – wait, did you just call me _Rey_?"

"A frying pan, _Rey_," Percy teased, emphasizing Reyna's new nickname, "how original. Just like Rapunzel. Now all you need is long, blonde hair and cute green eyes, yeah that'll work–"

_BONG_!

"_HADES_!" Percy yelped, feeling his face go numb. Once again, he sucked the water out of the air and nursed his _other _bruised cheek. If this went on, Percy would have a massive concussion. "Stop it with the _damn _frying pan!"

"Oh, sorry, _Percy_," Reyna slurred, adding fake sweetness into her voice. "Does he want a little band aid?"

Percy groaned and walked into the room, disarming Reyna of her lethal weapon and dragging her towards the window. "To think I came all the way here to save you…"

"Couldn't resist, couldn't you?" Reyna asked with a small grin. Percy was slightly taken aback by Reyna's words.

Rolling his eyes, Percy replied. "Put on something else more comfortable than a white dress, Reyna. Jeans and a shirt or something."

"And who are you to tell me my fashion choices," Reyna said sardonically before heading off in the direction of the closet. After a few tense minutes with Formula X burning towards them, Reyna appeared from her closet in a black t-shirt and blue jeans.

"You like?"

Percy smashed the glass window. "Reyna, I'm seriously considering pitching you down the tower so you could burn with Octavian and his honor guard." He jerked his thumb in the direction of the French door, which was now rapidly burning. "I will also remind you that we are in a _burning _tower."

"Then what do we do?" Reyna wondered, and her dark eyes looked at Percy. "Jump out the window?"

A small smile crept up Percy's face. Reyna's eyes widened with disbelief, and she back away from him. Suddenly, without warning, Percy grabbed Reyna's hand and leapt out the window, causing the girl to scream her head off. In mid air, Percy wrapped his arms around her hips and flipped them so that Reyna was on top of Percy. He felt the ground below him, and Percy made the ground softer in order to absorb their impact. Landing with a slight _oomph_, Percy closed his eyes.

And, just for kicks, he faked death.

"Jackson!" Reyna half yelled/half screamed. "Oh my gods, oh my gods, no no no–"

Percy cracked an eye open. The daughter of Bellona's face was ghost white; black eyes wide with worry, fear clearly written in her features. Then, all of a sudden, the cold Roman face was back and the color returned to her face, along with a sudden, raging fury in her eyes. With a hard slap, Percy was effectively snapped out of his laughing fit.

"_Rey_," Percy whined, "that hurt."

"Man the fuck up, Jackson," Reyna snarled before getting up. She still seemed to be a little bit shaken, and after taking a few deep breaths, the girl relaxed. "Percy, you're one of my closest friends. I do things with you that I wouldn't do with anyone else, even Jason, so please, _don't _do something like that again."

Percy looked at her inquisitively, as if to detect any sarcasm or lies in the daughter of Bellona's voice. When he didn't find any, Percy relaxed and pulled Reyna in for a hug, surprising her. But once again, the feisty ex-Praetor had a surprise for him and punched his solar plexus, causing the poor boy to double over, gasping for breath.

"Don't get all soft on me, Percy," Reyna teased with a smile. Percy, after regaining his breath, glared at Reyna, causing the girl to break out into a rare smile. "Romans don't have a mushy gushy side."

Percy looked at her apathetically. Then he turned on his heal and started walking around the tower.

"What are you doing?" Reyna hissed, keeping her voice down.

Percy turned around. "Reyna," he asked seriously, "have you ever staged a coup before?"

"No, why?"

"'Cuz we're staging one right now."

Reyna's eyes widened. "Percy, are you _sure _this is a good idea?"

Nodding, Percy replied. "What better time than now? Octavian and his _honor guard _are all burning in that tower, the Romans have no leader, and here you are!"

Not waiting for an answer, Percy grabbed Reyna's arm and dragged her around the tower. The burning green fire licked its way up the stones of the tower, and the base of the tower was already starting to crack. The Romans at the front gate looked surprised by his appearance, but they were even more shocked by Reyna's presence. She was, after all, a high level prisoner. However, most of the Romans had a look of delight rather than a look of hatred.

Percy nodded towards Reyna, and she smiled back. Her head was held high and with a sense of regality, as if she was born to be a leader.

"Romans," Reyna called, stepping out of the shadows, "today is a very special day. Today, our corruptor, our imprisoner, has perished in the flames of justice!" The girl gestured towards the burning tower. The Romans seemed to hesitate before applauding a little bit. Percy noticed that their eyes started clearing and their faces became more animated and more lifelike than the zombies he'd seen before.

"Octavian, the late augur, has turned Praetorship into a dictatorship! He has dealt with Titans and monsters and made us fight our own allies. He is no better than the monsters we slay everyday, and I say that we unite with our Greek brothers and wage war upon all those who dare to oppose the Legion!"

The spell upon the Romans was snapped. Whatever drug Octavian had upon the Romans, Percy could now see that it was gone. The cheering and the applause clearly stated that the Romans, in fact, very dearly wanted to stand with their Greek brethren, and Percy couldn't help but feel his heart tighten with a little bit of pride. Jason would be glad to know this.

"Today," Reyna continued, "we march to Camp Half-blood. But not in war – no, we march to Camp Half-blood in an offering of friendship and unity. Together, we are invincible, with the might of the Olympian gods and goddesses behind us. All of the bad blood between us will be forgotten, and I daresay that the Greeks will welcome us back with open arms. Is there any that oppose this?"

For once, the crowd was silent. Percy smiled underneath his hood. In the end, friendship trumped all corruption and strife.

"Praetor!" Percy shouted, and soon enough, the crowd was chanting loudly, wide smiles on their faces as they chanted the words over and over again. "Reyna, daughter of Bellona, the Redeemer of Rome!"

Despite Reyna's hard blush, she was raised upon a golden shield and carried off into the crowd. Percy couldn't help but smile at his handiwork. Octavian's rule had been finished. New Rome was once again a democracy and an ally of Camp Half-blood. With a sense of finality, the burning tower behind Percy crumbled, and the cobblestone tower fell to the ground.

* * *

**PERCY** was tired.

It had taken a few hours for all the Romans to gather all of their supplies, and by then it was already dark. After a quick conversation with Reyna, who was getting mobbed by legionnaires, Percy went outside the fort and found the Greek demigods huddled together, sleeping by a smile fire. A few minutes later, Percy had the four demigods following him back towards the fort where a large meeting was held. The old senators were given back their positions on the Senate and even debated whom the male Praetor should be. Every single person decided to install Percy as the Praetor, but he declined politely and stated that Jason would be happy to be Praetor again.

After all that, which took a good three hours, Percy had to help Reyna reorganize the cohorts. They checked if they had all of their supplies, their armor, and their weaponry. When all of these tedious checkups were done, Percy was ready to crash upon a bed, but then the Senate decided upon leaving right now, at three in the morning, since Percy told them it was roughly a four hour march to camp.

So that ended up with Percy heavily leaning on the burly shoulder of Jake Mason, half-dead.

"By _Olympus_ – you weigh a ton!" Jake complained, shifting his weight between his feet as he walked through the forest. The nymphs and dryads all came out of their homes and watched the one hundred or so legionnaires march through the forest, which, evidently, was an uncommon sight. "I swear, Jackson, youneed to go on a diet, or you should get lighter armor… _honestly_, it feels like I'm hauling a sumo wrestler."

Percy was ready to die from lack of sleep. He hadn't slept a wink for hours upon hours. And just when things couldn't get worse–

"Percy, we have a problem," Reyna said, stepping into stride next to Jake. "Some of the Romans aren't _nearly _happy and have started a fight."

"BY THE GODS!" Percy roared, unleashing a little earthquake to demonstrate his annoyance. After not sleeping a day, going on a rather tiring mission, staging a _coup d'état_, and then marching through a dark forest in the middle of the night, Percy's patience and good humor was getting to an all time low. "Look, tell them that if they don't like recent events then they could honestly eat horse poo and then get the hell out of my sight. Reyna, I am _not _in the mood for this."

The Praetor nodded, and headed back towards where the centurions were marching. Percy heard a few words of angry protest, a loud scuffle, and a relatively peaceful silence occurred, only to be broken by a few voices saying some words. Then Percy sensed Reyna's return, and soon enough, the girl caught up to Jake and Percy.

"We knocked them out," Reyna reported. "All fifteen of them."

Percy nodded sleepily and started walking on his own. Jake sighed happily and immediately put distance between him and Percy, lest the son of Poseidon should get sleepy again and desire a pillow. "Thank the gods. Just leave them on the forest floor, and I think that in a while they will regain their senses and join us at Camp Half-blood."

Reyna nodded, and a tranquil silence once again cleared the air. The only sound was the steady marching of the Roman Legion, and Reyna's small pitter-patter footsteps. Suddenly, his vision started fogging up and the sense of balance abandoned him, causing Percy to almost fall on flat ground. Luckily, Percy grabbed a purple object right in front of him and righted himself. When he realized that he was desperately hanging onto Reyna's purple cape, Percy immediately let go and braced himself for the angry Praetor's words.

After all, one does not simply grab a Praetor's cape and not pay the price.

Reyna's sharp words were droned out as Percy slowly fell into a rhythm of right foot, left foot, right, left. Images blurred by as he felt himself nod gently. He lost track of time as he clambered over tree roots and shrubs, and soon he didn't even hear the steady marching of the Roman army. After what seemed to be _eons _in this semiconscious stage, Percy felt a fresh blast of air hit his face and all of his senses instantly returned to him. He could sense Reyna slightly behind him to the left and his four Greek friends standing next to him. The march of the Roman army stopped and gave Percy some time to register his new location.

A hill with a lone pine tree stood before them. The green hillside was damp from the tidal wave that hit it a few days back, and an outline of a person was sitting at the top of the hill.

Without another word, Percy stepped out of the shadowy forest with the four demigods prisoners. Instantly, a horn was sound throughout camp and figures began appearing upon the hill. He stumbled a little bit as he walked up the hill, but Jake and Miranda supported him as the two little demigods quickly sprinted back across the border to where they were safe. He was met halfway by a flurry of demigods.

Percy was so tired he didn't even bother to recognize them.

"Percy, where's Reyna?" a voice asked. It was probably Jason, being a good boyfriend and worrying about his girlfriend. He only saw the forest and the green fields, but not the Romans hiding in the shadowy underbrush.

"She's with the Roman Legion," Percy answered, leaning slightly on Piper's shoulders.

"What do you mean by that?"

The entire Roman army stepped out of the forest, instantly surprising the Greeks. But they didn't seem to come for war – the Romans were not wearing armor and they had a white flag raised high in the air above them. An odd silence of some sort rang in the air, and more and more Greeks started appearing on the top of the hill. The rigidness of the Greeks almost made Percy laugh out loud. Then, a startling thing happened. After seeing the white flag of peace, the demigods on the hill all ran down to where the Romans were, and for a scary second Percy thought that he had led the legionnaires into a battle completely unprepared. But sounds of happiness and joy met his ears, and he let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding in. The Greeks were just happy to be reunited with their Roman counterparts.

Jason stared at Percy, jaws open. "H-How?"

"I staged a coup."

And with that, Percy fell to the ground, feeling consciousness slip from his grasp.

* * *

**PERCY **woke up in a familiar room.

Ethereal light splattered the shell-incrusted walls, and a small fountain happily gurgled in a corner. A few bunk beds stood near each wall, and a horn hung from the top of the door. _The Poseidon Cabin_, Percy thought with a small smile, _home sweet home_.

He snuggled into the bed, happy to be able to sleep, when he suddenly noticed that he was not alone. Adrenaline suddenly started pumping in his veins and he leapt from his bed, only to have the top bunk smash against his forehead with a mighty _BANG. _Stars swam his vision while he attempted to summon Calamity, but he felt a barrier between him and his weapon. Desperate, the concussed boy tried reaching into his pocket to summon Riptide and discovered that he was only wearing boxers.

"This is _so_ humiliating," a cold female voice said. "Come on, Percy, we did not train you to be like this."

Percy's vision cleared and he saw a beautiful lady in a sleeveless black dress. It was plain, simple, and to the point, and the wearer's face had a sense of natural beauty and elegance. However, the face was scrunched up in distaste and annoyance.

"Lady Nyx," Percy said respectfully, getting on one knee and bowing slightly. "What brings you here today?"

"Get up, Jackson," Nyx demanded impatiently. Sure she loved watching the great hero bow down to her, but she was here on urgent business, and the reek of demigod scent was really getting to her. "I'm here on urgent business."

Percy stood up and sat down on his bed. Nyx summoned a chair of darkness and sat opposite of him. "What's so urgent, Lady Nyx?"

"Loose the 'Lady,'" Nyx beseeched. The Primordial hated titles. They were nothing but shows of arrogance and tools of fear. "Jackson, we made a grave mistake in training you."

"I'm sorry, Nyx."

"Dammit Jackson, I know for a fact that you're never like this with Uranus and Pontus – treat me like you treat everyone else!" Nyx's eyes burst into flames in annoyance. "Anyways… Jackson, do you know why we even bothered training you in the first place?"

Percy thought as quickly as he could, uneager to annoy the powerful deity in front of him. "Something about powers?"

"No," Nyx said, "to be brutally honest with you, I _never _wanted to train you. Uranus and Pontus were bored as can be and wanted a new companion. When your father, Poseidon, asked Pontus if he could train you, Pontus told the rest of us about his request. We decided to train you – well, actually, Gaea, Uranus, and Pontus did. I was out ruled."

Percy felt a little offended, but he masked it with a look of confusion. "Why did you train me anyways?"

"Because… you… you…" Nyx seemed to be lost in her own thoughts. "Insolent demigod! How dare you probe into a _Primordial's _life? We do things for a reason, Perseus Jackson, and you have _no reason_, absolutely no–"

"I apologize, Lady Nyx."

"Loose the damn 'Lady!'" Nyx erupted, the darkness in his room suddenly seeming to intensify. After her out burst, she seemed to calm down. Her voice dropped. "Look, Percy, the reason why I trained you was because I knew that you would eventually have to fight against Tartarus and Erebus. And as much as I hate you, I knew that you were the only hope for Olympus."

Her voice, he noticed, chocked when she said Erebus. "Nyx, why do you hate me so much?"

Her eyes suddenly snapped towards his own. In that second, Percy felt vulnerable. He felt her black, merciless eyes probe every inch of his soul, and he could feel the power and pain behind them. The waves of terror, of sadness, of loss and regret rolled off of them, and Percy felt so small, so _insignificant _compared to Nyx. They narrowed and promised pain and death, before suddenly looking away.

"I know Erebus very well," she said, changing the subject. "I know that he is angry at the gods for imprisoning him and his brother in Tartarus – which itself is a paradox – but I also know that he is a peaceful being. Someone is behind him, not Tartarus either. But now since war has been declared, his pride won't let him give up the fight."

Nyx wouldn't look at him. She stared at the gurgling fountain. There was something that she was avoiding. "Nyx, why did you come here?"

She thought for a while before answering. "The times are tough, Percy. Friend or foe can barely be distinguished anymore. Pontus and Uranus value you very highly and you should feel highly honored. They are debating on whether or not to make you their champion."

Before Percy's mouth could fly open, Nyx's eyes bored into his. Instinctively he looked down.

What she said next surprised him. "I will allow no such thing. They are good at times, but I know that they could get very selfish and demanding. If you swear yourself to them, they would use you as a tool of destruction. It has happened before." Nyx scooted closer to Percy, who was now silent. "Percy, it only recently came to my attention that your appearance in our dimension has set off a chain reaction. Like a little pebble, you are the one that sets off the mighty avalanche. Primordials are awakening, Percy, and not all of them will be friendly."

"Wonderful," Percy said sarcastically. "More immortals. Absolutely _wonderful_."

Nyx ignored his sarcastic comment. "This is why I've come. They have only recently awakened. They are still weak. They can still be defeated. However, once they are in their true forms, little will stop them from engaging in war. Not against the gods, mind you, but against each other. A little… _family reunion_. But the world will be destroyed in the crossfire."

"Then how can I help?" Percy asked. "I'm just… a demigod."

The Primordial snorted. "A demigod with powers capable of destroying Olympus."

Before Percy could respond, Nyx continued talking. "Percy, understand that I hate you. Also understand that I have no desire to see my siblings fight. Of course these two things must be connected, right?"

Percy nodded. "I have to stop them before they get too powerful, right?"

"Bingo!" Nyx muttered, twirling her fingers in a sarcastic manner. "Look, trust no Primordial – not even me. I am not going to ask you to be my champion. You must not depend upon anybody – not the Greeks, not the Romans. When you fight versus Primordials, everything and anything goes. They will lie and deceive their way into your closest circle of friends and find a way for them to betray you.

"I will not lie, Percy. Gaea gave you the Chimera drug for a reason. It will be ten times harder for you to control your emotions now," Nyx revealed. "If you think she wanted to help you, then you are wrong. Gaea does nothing but plot. I never trusted her in the first place, Percy. Do not rely upon the earth to back you up in a fight."

Percy was taken aback by Nyx's speech. "But I use the ground to soften my landing," he said, "and it works."

"I saw that," Nyx said with an amused smile. "Quite cruel of you to play a trick like that on a girl who clearly loves you." Catching Percy's worried look, she added, "Like a brother. Don't worry."

Percy let out a breath. "Well, Aphrodite has finally spared me," he said with a grin.

"She is your biggest threat!" Nyx snapped. "You shall _never _underestimate that Goddess of Love. The Olympians, they are not your friends. Your friends, Greek or Roman, will betray you. You will have no one to go to, nobody to give you shelter, and you, for the sake of the world, _must survive_. Alone. Without anyone else."

"You lie!" Percy accused. "My friends would never betray me."

"Your loyalty hinders you from doing what is absolutely right," Nyx declared. "Heed my words, Jackson. Listen up. I am going to give you my _full blessing_. You are the first demigod I have ever given it to and probably the last. But I will warn you. Do not trust _anyone_, Percy. In the upcoming battle, you must forge your own path throughout the world. Fear must become your second name. Olympians, Titans, Primordials, they will all seek your help. They will present to you lies and false promises, and you must decline. You must break off any connections between you and any demigod. In a sense, you must not speak to anything that breathes. You will have no allies, no friends, and no family, but in the end, you will save everyone because you, _Perseus Jackson_, are the only one who could save us all."

"Lady Nyx, I _must _decline," Percy replied coldly. "I will not leave my friends to face the Primordials. I don't leave people behind to pursue personal goals, and I have faith in my friends. They wouldn't betray me." _Piper wouldn't betray me._

Nyx looked furious. No, that was an understatement. Her entire body burst into red-hot flames, and an ethereal voice bounced from everywhere in the room.

"_You have no say in this matter, Perseus Jackson! Soon, a terrible war will be upon us. On one side stands Olympus, with its demigod armies, on the other side stands the Titans, where monsters make their stand. But when the Primordials wage war against each other, and the mortal world will be caught in between. Everything will burn and dissolve into chaos, but you, Perseus Jackson will be a gleaming beacon of light in the sea of chaos. You, alone, will save this world._

"_But are you willing to make the sacrifices? You are armed with the power, but in the end, will you be able to make the final decision? Heed my words, Perseus, and listen!_

"_You will be an arc of destruction that nobody can stop. No man will be able to meet your gaze without flinching. Everything will cower in your presence. When you die, Thantos himself will be scared to reap your soul. You will bow to no one and be scared of no one. You will be the bane of Primordials – striking faster and deadlier than any immortal… _

"… _and you will become more powerful than you have ever dreamed of… you have my blessing, Master of the Elements. But for now, you sleep."_

A foreign power coursed through Percy's veins. It pounded and mixed into his blood, and he could feel his body absorb it. He felt himself become stronger by the minute. But he didn't want to do this. Percy didn't want to assume the roll of "Master of the Elements." Last time he used that title it was just to scare people, but now…

His heartbeat accelerated. His friends wouldn't betray him. Nyx was lying. She herself said to trust nobody… hypocritical Primordial. Everything she said was a lie. Undoubtedly Nyx was working with Erebus and Tartarus, after all, they were all personifications of darkness. She was just trying to sow the seeds of distrust into his head.

Right?

_Too many thoughts for too little time_. Percy felt himself start burning up, and he barely had time to get his body fully onto the bed before crumpling, loosing consciousness from the amount of raw power coursing through his veins.

Nyx put out the fires dancing across her body and put a hand upon Percy's back.

"I hate you, Jackson," she whispered softly, "but I hope that you will be able to do what is right."

* * *

**Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. A quick shout out to IStoleYourLastCookie who was the 1000th reviewer. Sadly, there is no prize but the recognition, but I would like to thank everybody who reviewed - except for the flamers of course.**

**Flames are used for marshmallows! :P**

**The only way I can tell if you guys/gals like where this story is heading is through the reviews, so if you don't like it, review, and if you do, review anyway. Thanks again for reading my ridiculous A/Ns, and have a nice day.**


	18. Calm Before the Storm

Perseus: Master of the Elements

**CALM BEFORE THE STORM**

_Jason stared at Percy, jaws open. "H-How?"_

_"I staged a coup."_

_And with that, Percy fell to the ground, feeling consciousness slip from his grasp._

**- Ω -**

**PIPER **was relieved.

When Percy stumbled up the hill with two demigods – Jake Mason and Miranda Gardener, right? – he looked close to death. His usually silky black hair was oily with sweat and wilder than usual, and his eyes had this dull, blank look towards it. Maybe he was too tired to think, but he sort of just waltzed by her. Not that she really cared, but she hadn't talked to Percy ever since the time when she decided to visit him late at night.

A small thought fluttered in Piper's mind. Percy sent Nico to find her to make sure that she was okay – at least he still cared for her.

Piper flipped over on her bed uncomfortably. After a full day of Romans and Greeks settling in with each other, Piper was ready to get a good night's sleep. Her day was spent escorting clueless Romans around camp; giving them the full tour of the facilities at camp and helping them pitch tents and set up camp. Then she checked on Percy, who was still knocked out on his bed, and that was eight thirty. It was understandable, since, after a long story from Reyna, Piper had drawn the conclusion that Percy hadn't slept a wink last night.

But she _really _wanted to talk to him.

Piper had felt a heavy weight on her chest. No matter what she did, no matter how hot her bath was or how soft her bed was, the feeling loomed over her, like a monstrous beast stalking its prey. It was a bottleneck of emotions that Piper feared that, if left untouched, could cascade into something far worse than what she was feeling right now.

Honestly, however, Piper couldn't quite name the feeling. It was like she was metaphorically carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders, and that she was slowly fatiguing underneath the ponderous burden. And although Piper was a daughter of Aphrodite, she had absolutely _no clue_, that's right, _no clue _to how her own emotions worked. As ridiculous as that seems, it was true – the girl who everybody came to for advice couldn't direct her own love life.

But Piper knew that the center of her problem came in the form of Percy Jackson.

_It is a sense of guilt_, she deemed. Most likely her conscious was feeling guilty about staying silent when Percy declared his love for her. Perhaps it was trying to tell her to find him and give him a big hug and a tender kiss and say, "I love you, too." Yet, wouldn't that be a little bit _too _easy for a demigod? After all, demigods almost never get happy endings.

_A sense of insecurity_. Piper had never felt this unsure about anything. Maybe, just _maybe_, she doubted the quality of love that Percy had for her. Or, to be more accurate, she doubted the quality of love that _she _had for Percy. Did she actually love him? Was it love all this time or was it just a type of intimate friendship? A sense of horror and disgust reared its ugly head, and Piper felt terrible for a second. Percy, without a doubt, loved her with all his heart but here she was, unsure about it all.

_Maybe I don't deserve to be his girlfriend_, Piper thought. A small tear formed in her eyes, which she hastily wiped away. She would not cry. Piper McLean would not – will not cry. She had to be strong, to be self-reliant, not to get worked up over problems such as these. Just like Reyna or Annabeth. Strong, self-assured women who didn't take crap from anybody and yet was still able to catch the eye of any hero that came within grasp.

She stared up into bottom of the wooden bunk bed, silently contemplating upon a course of action. And slowly, ever so slowly, sleep snuck up on her and soon enough, Piper was taking deep, even breaths and off in the realm of Morpheus.

* * *

"Hello, Piper."

**PIPER **jolted upright when an eerie, almost ethereal voice woke her up. She sat up on the cold, transparent floor and looked – wait, cold, transparent floor? Wide-awake, Piper glanced around to quickly identify her new location, but everywhere she could see was whiteness. There was just… nothing. Nothing but Piper and the world of white that surrounded her.

"What… where am I?" she asked, to nobody in particular.

A small ink stain appeared in the otherwise white horizon. Tendrils of darkness slowly wove its way into the white sky, sending a shudder down Piper's back. "Why, you should know. We are in a demigod dream."

A dream. Piper calmed down a little bit, but she still stood on her edge. Demigod dreams were vivid and so life like that it was often difficult to determine the difference between reality and dreams. So instead of worrying about her situation, Piper got up from her seated position and watched the inkblot slowly corrupt the perfect white sky. It was silent for a good while, before a large, gun-like sound broke the silence.

The darkness suddenly exploded, black tentacles of darkness screaming through the air. A slow, thumping sound reached Piper's ears, and she looked around for the source of it. But it was coming from everywhere, echoing off of the empty world around her. Slowly, Piper started making out a distinct outline coming from the darkness. It was a man, with broad shoulders and a tall frame – no, it was a woman of pure darkness, but Piper could see the curves that made the dark blob a woman.

The woman was walking towards her. With each step, she left a trail of black blots behind, corrupting the white world that Piper was in. It was as if this woman was the very personification of darkness itself.

Then the woman spoke. The voices were no longer ethereal; they had a source. "Hello, dear. Piper, am I right? Daughter of Aphrodite?"

Her voice was cold and spoke with a sense of false warmth. "Y-yes," Piper stuttered, still slightly in awe of the person/god. "And who are you?"

The woman was close to Piper now. She stopped a respectful five feet away from her and conjured a chair of darkness and sat on it. Piper noticed that her face had no features – just a black outline of nothing. After a little while of quizzically staring at the woman, Piper relaxed and sat down on a chair that appeared out of nowhere.

"For now, Piper, I am your conscience. We have very little time here, so I will be blunt and to the point. Are you okay with that?"

Piper said yes out of politeness, but she was sure that the woman would've continued talking even if she said no. Something about the woman unnerved her; she had no sense of power radiating from her, but yet she still spoke with the confidence of a goddess. On her face, the outlines of a nose and eyes and hair started appearing, and soon enough Piper was staring into the face of a beautiful, dark haired lady who was dressed in elegant ebony attire that seemed to come out of the 1800s.

"Well then, let's waste no time. Piper, for the sake of the world, you must give up on Percy Jackson."

Instant shock caused Piper to stop everything she was doing. Her breathing stopped, her finger stopped twirling her hair, and her heart stopped thumping. To think that a person who Piper didn't even know just jumps into her dreams and demands her to break up with _her _boyfriend just for the _sake of the world _does _not _mean that she will do such a incredibly stupid – _whoa, slow down there, Pipes_.

The girl took a deep breath and her heart started thumping in her chest again. Okay, so maybe things aren't going the best with Percy right now. That doesn't mean that she should give up on him. Some problems had to be worked out and solved – sure, even she'll admit that – but Piper felt as if whatever she had with Percy, be it love, friendship, or anything at all, was special and something worth fighting for.

A sudden revelation hit Piper. All this time, she was trying to name whatever she was feeling for Percy but she got nowhere. Now she understood that the thing they had is not love, is not friendship, is not a certain type of understanding; it was something far greater and more unique and spectacular than any of those things. It was simple, really.

And whatever they had, she knew, could not be explained by words.

"No. I won't do such a thing," Piper stated, voice full of confidence. This was one battle she was not going to loose.

The woman chuckled. "Piper, I am your… _ah,_ 'conscience.' I know what you feel and how you feel. Tell me, Piper, if this is true: one year ago you couldn't care less about how you looked when you walked out of your cabin, but these days you brush your hair, find clean clothes, and even throw on a little bit of mascara because that can't hurt, can't it? He changed you, Piper, and not for the better."

"I changed myself," Piper replied defensively. "So what if I want to look pretty?"

"Please, honey, with those kaleidoscopic eyes and lush brown hair? I don't think you need any help," the woman mocked. Piper swore that she heard a little bit of Drew in there. "You've never felt insecure, and you've never compared yourself to others. But now…?" She looked at Piper expectantly.

When Piper didn't say anything, she continued. "Now, you worry about everything. The boy makes you introverted, Piper, and now you doubt yourself. He makes you try and become other girls like Reyna and Annabeth. Don't try to become someone you aren't – you aren't a hero, Piper. You are the person who is willing to do what is right for the world, even if people may or may not look favorably upon it.

"You are a savior. Brave people will die on the battlefield and be considered heroes while you live and become hated for the fact that you are still alive. But in the very end, it is because of you that the world will pull through – that is, if you make the right decision."

"What?" Piper asked, trying to swallow all the information. "What decision?"

The woman stared at her, dark eyes boring into her own. All of a sudden Piper felt weak and insignificant, as if she meant absolutely nothing and was at the mercy of this powerful being that was in the dream with her.

"You must sacrifice many things in order to save the world. In the end, my dear Piper, you must make the ultimate decision. But for now, as another war looms, you must make the first choice of many. Will you satisfy your selfish desire and stay with Percy Jackson, or will you break things off with him in order to save countless lives?"

Piper's mind whirled. Too many things were trying to worm their way into her head, and she couldn't comprehend them all.

"There are two types of heroes in this world. The one that does the noble things, and the one that will do what is necessary to win. Which of those are you, Piper?"

The woman got up and gently walked towards Piper. Surprisingly, the woman pulled Piper into a hug and squeezed her tightly before letting go. Then, with a slight melancholic smile, the woman waved her hand and instantly Piper felt her mind fogging up. The white and black world started swirling before her very eyes, slowly becoming a muted grey color. Very dimly, Piper could make out the retreating figure of the woman.

"Wait," Piper managed to get out, even though she was suffering from a massive headache. "who… who are you?"

An ethereal voice responded her. "Well, I guess you deserve to know. I am Nyx, Primordial of Night and Darkness."

The voices bounced around, hitting her mind at all angles. Slowly, the echoes escalated into a deafening roar, and no matter how hard Piper clamped her hands over her ears, it just got louder and louder. Eventually it became too much to bear, and the white world gave way to the darkness.

* * *

"–_that doesn't mean that we could go around blasting people with lightning. Sure, it could be a threat, but yet it could still be an invaluable ally."_

"_It is better to be safe than sorry, right?"_

_"But the pros out weigh the cons. Whatever this is, it could be a friend."_

"_Fine. Who votes in immediately killing the power source? … So I'm assuming that we're going to find out more information on it – hmph. My daughter, I'm notified that your huntresses are at the camp."_

"_Yes, father."_

"_Go there. Investigate… if it is worthy, bring it to Olympus. If you have an ounce of suspicion, kill whatever it is. You are a huntress after all, and this is possibly the greatest prey of all."_

* * *

Screw camp meetings. Sure, they were good things, but **PERCY **was honestly getting sick of them. And he was definitely getting tired of Nico shadow traveling into his life, looking as giddy as a kid in a candy store and demanding his presence at the Big House.

After walking outside of his cabin, the sunlight struck him like a bullet. Nico barely managed to catch him when Percy fell, grunting about how the son of Poseidon should go on a diet. But Percy wasn't listening to that – instead, the boy was listening to two demigods' conversation about whether or not to trust the Romans. He recognized one of the voices was Annabeth's, but she wasn't anywhere in sight.

That is, until he found her talking to Malcolm in the Athena cabin. Then, he started worrying.

Percy realized that he could hone in on any sound that he could hear, and if he stayed silent and listened, he could practically listen in on anyone. And the even scarier thing was that he processed all of this information within a minute. Another thing was that he that he felt a little bit vulnerable standing in the broad daylight – the shadows under the cabins looked much more appealing. The demigod shook the feeling off and followed the uncharacteristically bright son of Hades to the Big House.

All the time he felt as if someone was watching him.

With every step he took, he began to hear little things. Percy wasn't exactly sure about his current mental state of mind, but he was sure that the stuff around him was whispering to him. He could feel the leaves inch towards him, whispering something so faint that he couldn't tell what it was saying. Maybe it was a breeze in the trees, but an awful lot of leaves were lightly falling on him. The ground he stepped on left deep imprints of his shoes (which unnerved him even more) and with each step the earth beneath him seemed to chant inaudible words.

Then he felt raw energy course through him, and the wind around him picked up. The sun even seemed to dim for a second, but it was gone as soon as it appeared. With each step Percy grew more suspicious and annoyed. The world around him seemed to be taunting him, and Nico's talkative demeanor wasn't helping. After Nico finally managed to stay quiet for a while right before entering the Big House, Percy caught what the world was whispering.

"_Master_._"_

The door shut behind him. Utter bewilderment caught his mind briefly before Percy managed to strangle the offending emotion and shoved it down into a corner of his brain. He took a seat at the Ping-Pong table, realizing at once how many people were in the small room. Chiron, the centaur, was nowhere to be seen, but there was possibly twenty demigods crowded around the blue table. He checked each of the faces and was met with councilors from all different cabins, along with the centurions and Praetors of the Legion.

And Percy saw Piper sitting in the corner, chatting animatedly with Leo.

But he brushed that away. Nyx's words haunted him, chanting within his brain like a curse.

"So, e'rybody here?" Nico called, standing on one side of the table. Without waiting for them to reply, he continued. "I got really _awesome _news. My father regained control of the Underworld!"

Immediate silence gripped the room. Then loud cheers – which caused Percy's head to throb painfully – broke the still air and suddenly everybody was clapping Nico and Hazel on the back, congratulating them. But something was wrong. Percy hated to be the party-pooper, but there was something incredibly suspicious about all of this.

"Wait. How?"

Nico looked at him. Stared at him, actually. "Tartarus and Erebus – the two Primordials, yea? – sent him a message. They just marched the monsters out of Camp Jupiter and the Underworld and gave it back to Olympus. Said something about taking care of 'family business,' whatever that means. Anyways, dad has his domain back and the Romans have their camp back. Win-win situation, amiright?"

With those words, the Romans in the room cheered. Yet Percy was still skeptical of the whole deal. "So they just marched out of the Underworld and Camp Jupiter and New Rome?"

"That's what I'm saying," Nico responded impatiently. "Don't be such a downer, Perce."

"No, Percy's right for being a tad bit wary," a voice piped up. Percy stared at the source, a frowning daughter of Aphrodite. "Who in their right mind would just willingly give up two strategically important locations?"

Nico's gaze turned towards Piper. But this time, Jason answered. "Maybe they don't want to fight Olympus. So they disbanded their troops and left, probably to hide somewhere."

"Close, Jason," Nico said, "but no cigar. They left because apparently there was some family business in the mountains."

As soon as Nico's words left his mouth, Percy's brain completely lost it. He was thrown back into some sort of distant scene…

_Darkness seeped through the mountain range. Two figures stood in the looming shadow, calmly walking towards the tallest mountain peak. Then, something impossible happened. The mountain grumbled and groaned, and two massively boulders suddenly lit up, glowing a fierce blue when, all of a sudden, the mountain exploded, lighting up the darkness in a cataclysmic explosion that flattened out trees and shattered windows miles away._

_In its place a large humanoid figure, thousands of feet tall, stood. It was made out of rocks and moss, and its eyes were glowing blue rocks that commanded the deepest respect. The darkness returned._

"_Come, _Ourea_, we have much to discuss."_

…Percy snapped out of his vision, head swimming and heart thumping. The ringing sound of the explosion still resounded in his head, and he wondered whether or not he would remain sane. Then Percy remembered something that Nyx had said, _Primordials are awakening, Percy, and not all of them will be friendly. _The name Ourea felt familiar to Percy, and with a start he recognized the name. Once, during training, Uranus made a joke about how Percy was going to become rock-hard after they were done with him, just like Ourea, Primordial of Mountains.

Nobody in the room noticed how he had acted. Nico was still talking, Frank was chatting with centurions, Jason was whispering to Reyna, Leo and Piper resumed conversing, and Percy was alone.

It was good, he decided, because nobody could know that he was about to make a visit the mountains. But which one? His instincts screamed west, but that didn't help at all – after all, he was in New York, the most eastern point in the United States. Percy decided to consult someone who would definitely be an expert on mountains (or the earth, at least).

"Katie?"

Said daughter of Demeter's head jerked in his direction. Her warm brown eyes met his and he smiled, but what happened next baffled him. Katie's eye's widened, and obvious fear could be read from her expression. Then she cast her glance down and replied, "Yes, Percy?"

It took him a while to respond. "What's the biggest and best mountain range in America?"

She looked at him quizzically, but she would not meet his eyes. "The Rockies, without a doubt. Why?"

"Just for a bet," Percy muttered distractedly, lying to her face. It worked, and soon enough she was back to arguing with Travis Stoll.

He glanced around. The Rocky Mountains were the longest mountain range in Northern America. He remembered some distant Geology class in school where he did some report on it – _failing it, nonetheless_ – but he did remember that the highest point was in Colorado. The name of the specific mountain eluded him, but he honestly couldn't care less.

The meeting had no point after that. It was decided that Leo would transport the Romans back to Camp Jupiter via the Argo II and Argo III, where they would be reunited with the rest of the Legion and the citizens of New Rome. It sounded like a good plan, now with the Primordial threat gone, but Percy was still adamant on letting the Romans leave. Sure the Primordials are gone, but what about the Titans?

He had voiced his opinion out loud, but it was waved down by Jason, who had said that the Titans would be no problem.

Oh how wrong he was.

Slowly people began to leave the room. They talked about meaningless things and old friends caught up on events, but Percy sat stoically in a corner of the room, thinking to himself. Obviously something wasn't right here. And when he looked across the room and watched a troubled-looking Piper sit down in an easy chair, he wondered what was going on in her brain. Soon enough, it was just the two of them alone in a silent recreation room.

They spoke at the same time. "We need to talk."

* * *

Bah.** Shouldn't have trusted me with a non-cliffhanger.**

**Anyways, I'm responding to reviews this time around. So, even if you say hi, I'll say hi back. If you say, "Your story sucks, Zapperian, you should rot in a hole," I'll be like, "List five assertions on why my story sucks and make sure to have three good pieces of evidence for each assertion. Then, you can place your lips upon my posterior and osculate it."**

**And if you ask why it isn't Percabeth…**

**Remember, if you want your review to be replied to you have to sign in. Or, if you don't have a fanfiction, sign the anonymous thing.**

**So, do you think we could get 100+ reviews for this one chapter? If so, then I'll make chapter 19 **_**ten thousand**_** words long if we make it. Pinkie promise.**

**Have a good day!**


	19. Dragonwings

**EDITED: 5/20/2013**

* * *

Perseus: Master of the Elements

**DRAGONWINGS**

_Slowly people began to leave the room. They talked about meaningless things and old friends caught up on events, but Percy sat stoically in a corner of the room, thinking to himself. Obviously something wasn't right here. And when he looked across the room and watched a troubled-looking Piper sit down in an easy chair, he wondered what was going on in her brain. Soon enough, it was just the two of them alone in a silent recreation room._

_They spoke at the same time. "We need to talk."_

**- Ω -**

**PERCY** mentally braced himself for impact, like a sailor on a ship that was about to get struck by cannons. Although in this case, Percy would much rather be the sailor – Hades, he would give a lot to get out of this situation.

"Yeah, we do," Piper murmured, sending shivers down Percy's back. She stood up from her easy chair and made her way towards the stool opposite of Percy, where she promptly sat down. Her eyes always stayed on his face, but Percy had a nagging suspicion that she didn't dare look him in the eyes.

Piper smelled nice. _Okay, Percy, hold back on the creepiness_, he scolded himself. But it was hard to ignore the slight change in air whenever Piper was near; the air seemed to purify itself and become cleaner. What annoyed Percy to no end was that he couldn't name the intoxicating scent. Was it a shampoo or a type of perfume or just something natural that came with her?

He sniffed slightly. It didn't matter. It was one of the small details that only Percy cared for.

"So," Percy said, attempting to end the suffocating silence, "how's it been?"

"Good, good," Piper replied, grinning a little bit. A cute dimple popped up on her cheek and her small freckles rested on her nose, and pink lips parted to show pearly-white teeth. "How 'bout you?"

Percy smiled at her in return. No smirk – she deserved a full smile. "Nice. But it's been kind of… boring."

She laughed nervously, twirling her hair with her fingers. Something that she did whenever she was nervous, Percy noted. "Yeah, I'm Percy Jackson. I just assassinated a titan and staged a coup while I was at it. No big deal." Her voice dripped with sarcasm, but it was in a joking manner. She was holding back on something – that was obvious – but Percy wasn't quite sure if he wanted to have an intimate talk with Piper right now.

After all, didn't Nyx tell him to distance himself from everyone? Cut all ties from the world?

Eh, screw Nyx. Hypocritical Primordial – _don't trust anyone, Percy._

"Pipes, whatever you want to say, just say it," Percy implored. "Whatever's gotten in between us has got to go. Please, help me with this."

Piper wouldn't meet his eyes. She rested her elbows on her knees and covered her face with her hands, and in that moment, Piper looked insecure and vulnerable. Instinctively, Percy reached out and gently took her own hands into his, squeezing them tightly for reassurance. Percy let Piper gather her words for a while, and just when he thought that the silence was going to choke him to death, she spoke.

"Percy, why do you love me?"

Her tone was soft, free of charmspeach, and Percy realized that he was just hearing Piper's true voice, completely free of any hint of the Mist or magic. He removed Piper's hands from her face and, with one finger, he tilted her chin up so he could look into her forever-changing eyes. This time, he saw more colors than he had ever seen before, but he guessed that they were always there, waiting to be discovered by someone who cared enough.

"Look into my eyes and ask me again," Percy murmured. He slowly leaned in and touched his forehead against hers, and her hot breath made goose bumps pop up on his skin. "Look into my eyes and ask me, why do I love you."

Her kaleidoscopic eyes slowly lifted, but the second that they stared into each other's eyes, Piper's gaze dropped to the ground. Her lips started quivering and her eyes darted around his face, looking at every single feature except for his eyes. That slightly annoyed Percy a tiny bit, but he shrugged it off.

"I love you because…" Percy's voice trailed off, and for some odd reason his heart clenched tightly in his chest. "I don't know. I mean… you don't fall in love for a logical reason I guess – love is the type of thing that just happens, Pipes."

She blinked in response, and Percy swallowed thickly. "Honestly, I don't know why I fell in love with you," he said quietly, "but it just happened. Maybe because you were there for me when Annabeth… did what she did, maybe because Aphrodite jacked up my mind, or maybe because you are _you_. But in the end, does it really matter why I fell in love with you when we both know that I love you?"

Piper breaths shuddered, and her eyelashes fluttered. Her eyes flickered to his briefly, but once again, she glanced down immediately. "I don't know what's so great about me." She bit her lip.

"Don't you get it, Piper?" Percy asked, exasperated. "_I love you_. Isn't that enough?"

"Yes," she answered, and she pressed her lips to his for the first time in a long while. But the second she did, Percy detected something wrong. He pulled away because it felt like she was going out of her way to please him, and it just felt downright terrible. Percy never thought a bad kiss existed, but that was as close as it got.

His hands never let hers go, though. "Piper," he said seriously, "Do you love me?"

Piper peered up at him through her dark eyelashes and their eyes met. For the third time, Piper dropped her gaze, although Percy noted that she had tried to maintain eye contact. "I... _I don't know_," she admitted.

Percy dropped Piper's hands and looked away, looking everywhere but at the daughter of Aphrodite in front of him. He felt his heart contract and steel itself into a metal cocoon, and the worst part of it was the little nagging voice in the back of his mind chanting, _I told you so!_ A dull, painful throbbing in his heart told him that he should've seen this coming, that the signs were obvious.

He couldn't look at her. He didn't trust his emotions enough to.

"Wait, Percy, let me explain," Piper begged. When the boy remained silent, she continued. "I swear, there's something in here," she gestured to her heart, "that belongs to you and you only, and I'm not sure if it's love or something far greater or more powerful than it. Honestly, I want–"

Percy turned his face towards her, and her voice faltered. Piper had only seen this complexion once, after Percy's break up with Annabeth. It was a look of betrayal, of unrequited love, and Piper couldn't _stand _it. If looks could kill, she would've died from emotional trauma, because one did not even have to be a daughter of Aphrodite to understand the emotions running through the son of Poseidon's face.

Percy, on the other hand, was not faring much better than Piper. Never before had he felt this terrible – the only incident that even came _close _was his break up with Annabeth, but this was ten times worse. This was akin to a cold-blooded rejection, but the innocent way that Piper did it slaughtered his feelings mercilessly. His mind was in jumbles and his thought process was a mess, and the only thing that Percy could focus on was the guilty-looking daughter of Aphrodite before him.

"Percy, whatever in _Hades _you are thinking, I did _not _mean it like that," Piper stated harshly, jolting Percy from his reverie. His surprised, sea green eyes bored into hers, but for the first time, Piper didn't look away.

"I don't think this is going to work."

"_Pardon_?" Piper asked, almost sure that her ears were fooling her. But her voice came through broken, and the vibrant green eyes she was staring into didn't help at all. It was exactly like staring into Nyx's obsidian eyes – Piper felt like an ant ready to be crushed by a giant. She felt like she was drowning in the deep ocean, slowly suffocating to death, but she steeled her nerves and kept her gaze on him. Yet deep down, Piper knew that Percy would never hurt her. Physically, at least.

"I don't think this is going to work," Percy repeated, emphasizing each word painfully. Having Piper's wide eyes hovering over his didn't exactly help with the effort.

"Don't even _say _that," Piper said icily, voice full of contempt. "Why would you even say something like that?" But her voice was quivering.

"Because _I _can't," Percy interrupted, "because maybe I want someone to love me as much as I love them. Maybe I want someone to kiss me because they love me, not because they feel obligated to do, because I want someone to always be there for me, and when the world burns in fire I'd want that someone to be in my arms, together 'till the very end."

His voice was weak and broken and radiated bitterness. "And maybe, _just maybe_, I want to be selfish a little bit and be able to call someone _mine_ and mine only, to have someone to sleep with at night, to have someone to fight for, and to have someone to _love_. And I can't love someone who doesn't love me as much as I love them because a wise man once told me that no good could come out of relationship where the love is unrequited."

Percy felt as if he had thrown his heart out to the wind and prayed for it to land in a good home. He had poured out the words that he had been dying to say for such a long time, all to this one girl who had warranted his love and heart. And somehow, Percy felt a little bit better after letting his façade of being a hero slip.

"Percy," Piper ventured, "I want to be that person for you. I want someone to love, too. I want someone to be there for me, someone to provide me with happiness and I don't know why, but I _know _that you're the person for me."

Percy's heart started beating faster and his vision grew watery. All of a sudden his lips were on hers, and she felt amazing, because this kiss was sweet, it was pure, and it was full of a desperate want that so _deliciously _added an unbridled sense of passion. But it was over as soon as it started, and Piper opened her eyes to find Percy studying her.

"Let's start over. Take it slow. We tried once already and I think we can both agree that it didn't work out so well, but I'm willing to take another shot. How 'bout you?"

Piper nodded, a small, euphoric feeling sneaking up upon her. "I'd love it. Try again and take things slow. _Together_. You and me."

Percy smiled coyly and cocked his head to one side. "After all, first is the worst, second is the best, but the third is the one with the hairy chest!"

A feeling of shock overcame Piper. Before she knew what was happening, her head was thrown back and she was laughing with the son of Poseidon – leave it up to Percy to have an instant mood change. And she can't even believe that she had laughed at that crappy joke, but it felt good to be able to laugh freely after that tense situation. "I can't believe you… _fishface_."

Percy raised an eyebrow. He mouthed the word "fishface"incredulously before grinning. "Whatever floats your boat, Pocahontas."

Silence. Piper stared at him. "That was actually pretty racist."

"Sorry, Beauty Queen," Percy laughed, and Piper couldn't help but chuckle at his antics. "Be my girlfriend, Pipes," he asked suddenly. It was more of a demand then a question.

"I thought we were taking things slow?" Piper asked cynically, smiling wryly at his expression.

"Screw that."

"I would love to."

He hugged her, inhaling Piper's sweet and unnamable scent. "Remember, Pipes?"

"Mmhm?" she mumbled, pulling back to stare into Percy's addictive eyes. It brought a feeling of unshakable captivation that never failed to ensnare her into its sea-green trap.

"About the house on the waves?" Percy smiled at her, a serious, actual smile instead of his half-smirk. "I had a dream about it. It is going to be blue, with shells decorating the walls, and it will have a garden hanging from a balcony, blooming with all the most beautiful flowers in the world."

For some reason, a big ball of emotion caused Piper's breath to quicken and her throat to constrict. Percy continued: "The ocean is calm and the beach is perfect. Nobody is around for miles and there's a little clearing between the palm trees where a hammock for both of us rests.

"I'm going to build this house, Piper. When everything is over, I'm going to take you away with me, and we'll live without a care in the world, together in our perfect Elysium."

Piper couldn't help but let a tear fall from her cheek.

* * *

"_It was in the Big House, father, right under our noses, but every demigod in the meeting was powerful. There was too much power there to be able to single out the power source."_

"_But father said that this power source would be unmistakable."_

"_It is. Single out every demigod in the room. Find them in private and question them. I want no chances, so I'm sending your sisters along with you. Tell us, Artemis, who were the demigods in the room?"_

"_It was terribly crowded. The counselors of all cabins were there, along with the centurions, Praetors, and important senators."_

"_Excellent. This is a good start. Artemis, since you are the one who reported all this information, you get to pick the demigods you get to question. But if I do know you well enough, I'd guess that you'd choose all the girls, am I correct?"_

"_Yes, father."_

"How about you, Athena?"

_"I will handle all the male counselors. Not a single Roman, however."_

"_Aphrodite?"_

"_Well, I'll take what's left, I guess. But I'll question Perseus Jackson. Otherwise, I will not agree to this."  
_

"_What do you want with my son?"_

"_I'll take Perseus – I will not allow him to suffer your insatiable lust for him."_

"_Oh what, oh great goddess of wisdom, has caused you to defend a son of your enemy? And why, oh why, do you want to question him so badly?"_

"_If you want him so badly then take him! I don't care. Don't you dare forget the purpose of our mission. If he is the power source, you better bring him to Olympus."_

"_So it is settled then. Good luck in your endeavors, my daughters."_

* * *

**PERCY **made his way to the arena, whistling a nameless tune.

Percy smiled at a passing legionnaire, who in turn gave him a happy wave. He was in a rapturous state after his conversation with Piper. All of the pent up words that he desperately wanted to say came out during their banter, and when he declared that things wouldn't work out, Piper's immediate reaction told him that she cared a lot for him. He saw that she wanted it to work as much as he did.

And for the time being, that was enough for him.

The arena was crowded when he arrived. There were Greeks and Romans alike, each sparring with each other and having a good time. It touched Percy's heart when he saw the two groups of demigods get along with one another so well. The purple shirts mingled with orange shirts, and Percy observed how the discipline of the Romans allowed them to endure battles for a much longer time than the Greeks. However, the Greek demigods' tactics were unorthodox, easily surprising and disarming the Roman troops.

It was like a free for all. People were just battling it out on the sandy floor, and when someone was disarmed, they would make it to the stands were they sat and watched the brawl continue. It looked like everybody was having a good time, and more and more people were arriving. Although Percy would've preferred having an empty arena and fighting automatons, Percy decided that it would be good to get some experience disarming demigods without harm.

He came to the arena to warm up. Percy's instincts screamed at him to go to the Rockies and destroy Ourea while the Primordial was still weak from waking up, but Percy chose to warm up in the arena a little bit. Even though fighting a thousand-foot giant was much more different than fighting demigods, Percy thought that getting the blood and adrenaline pumping in his system would be beneficial.

"Hey, Percy! Fancy seeing you here," he heard someone say. Percy's enhanced hearing instantly located where it came from, and he turned around to see a smirking Leo brandishing a large war hammer. The son of Hephaestus mock-saluted before turning around, quickly retreating from the son of Poseidon. "I would really _love _to spar with you, but sadly, I don't want my ass whooped and plus, I'm on a killing streak."

Percy laughed and Leo engaged himself with another demigod. He walked closer towards the center of the arena, where he knew the most action would be. Nobody bothered him on the way there; in fact, they seemed to part before him. When he arrived at the center of the arena, Percy became aware of how the loud clashing of metal was eerily similar to the battle with the Romans earlier that week, but this time, everybody was just having fun.

"No way, that's Jackson!" Percy turned around to find a grinning girl dressed in an unzipped silver parka showing a shirt that said _Green Day_. Despite her spiky black hair, a dainty tiara rested at the top of her head, and Percy knew that he was in for a good battle. "Oh thank Olympus! My prayers have been answered," Thalia said in a sarcastic tone, and he couldn't help but smile at his cousin. "It's about time I had a good battle – these chumps barely last for a minute!"

"Hey Thalia, you're going to pay for that lighting bolt," Percy teased, stretching out his arms. The battling demigods had the sense to clear the floor around them, so now the two had the center of the arena all to themselves.

"What, that bolt up your ass?" Thalia guffawed, sending electric pulses through her spear. "How we gonna do this – elemental or no?"

Percy grinned and he cracked his knuckles. "How 'bout you show me some electric pain, huh Thals?"

She grinned and suddenly, a shield popped out from seemingly nowhere. But it was no ordinary shield – it had the scowling face of a fake Medusa on it. Thalia's stance hung low to the ground and her spear cocked back like a striking cobra, but she made no attempt to throw it whatsoever. "Where's your weapon, Perce?"

Deciding against using Calamity, Percy pulled out Riptide from his jean pocket. He uncapped the pen and it glowed into his trusty celestial-bronze sword, which he twirled around the air using his right hand. Slowly but surely, Percy advanced upon the daughter of Zeus. In a flash, a high voltage of electricity enough to kill an average man rushed towards him, but Percy instantly raised his sword and the lightning struck Riptide, which in turn absorbed the bolt. The blade cackled with electricity and started to glow with a type of electric blue, shocking the lieutenant of the Hunt.

"Learned some new trick, eh Jackson?" Thalia taunted, but her guard was up and she was wary, subconsciously shielding more of her body with her shield.

Percy only smirked at her, and he raised his sword high up in the air. "Say cheese!"

Before Thalia could respond, a blinding light erupted from Riptide and rendered her temporarily blind. When she recovered, Thalia barely had time to block the strike coming from Percy with her shield and slashed diagonally with her spear. Percy parried the blow and raised the sword high above his head before bringing it down, where Thalia blocked it again with her shield. Her spear sprang forward and Percy dodged towards the left side. He pivoted his left foot and his free fist sprang towards her face, almost catching the huntress off guard. Thalia managed to duck under it and bashed him with her shield, causing Percy to stumble back a little bit.

Then her spear came hurling forward and Percy countered it by swinging his sword upwards with pinpoint precision and timing, which caused the two weapons to meet with a _CLANG _and Thalia nearly loosing grip on her weapon. Not loosing any time, Percy feinted towards her spear side with his sword, and the spear came forth, cackling with electricity. The son of Poseidon ducked under it and grabbed it with his free hand and yanked on it hard, causing Thalia to loose her grip on the weapon and wrenched out of her grasp.

Percy thought he had won the brief battle when a combat boot struck him in the chest, causing him to stumble backwards a few steps. He saw Thalia growl and her shield disappeared, only to be replaced by two silver hunting knives in each hand. She sprang forward with a type of agility that only a huntress could possess and almost caught Percy off guard. Percy sidestepped both of her strikes and backpedaled before throwing Riptide at Thalia.

Like Percy was expecting, Thalia rolled out of the way. And just when the huntress was about to chastise her sparring partner for stupidly throwing away his weapon mid-battle, she was met with a massive, eight-foot-long behemoth of a weapon being swung towards her. Thalia barely managed to press herself flat against the ground before the weapon almost cleaved her head off, and she could feel the rush of wind that followed it. She quickly rolled backwards and got back up, breathing hard and sweat perspiring down the side of her face.

Percy didn't even feel tired, and he was sure that the girl knew that. He swung the pitch-black weapon lazily around him, giving her full view of the sharp axe and massive club at both ends of the weapon. Everybody in the arena had stopped their sparring now and was eagerly watching the two demigods duel. Just for added effect, Percy lit the halberd on fire, causing Thalia to step back warily and the demigods watching to whistle appreciatively. He even saw some Roman eyes widen in realization.

"Aww, no way is Thalia scared," Percy jeered, maintaining a distance between him and the huntress. He extinguished the flames on his halberd.

Thalia grit her teeth. "A big weapon won't make you more of a _man_," she spat, making a few of the female demigods in the arena laugh.

Percy feinted hurt. And when Thalia's eyes softened the _tiniest_ bit, Percy swung Calamity's axe end towards her. She ducked under the weapon and tried closing the distance between them, but Percy slid his hands down the side of the weapon and swung the club end right back at her. Thalia didn't have enough time to dive out of the way, so she raised one of her combat knives to block the heavy strike. What did happen was that the club completely knocked the knife out of her hand, sending it flying. Before she could recover, Percy flipped his hands and slid it down to the extreme club end of Calamity. He raised the weapon and swung it over his head, bringing the axe end crashing straight down towards Thalia. The halberd sliced straight through the air and nearly impaled Thalia had she not rolled out of the way just in time. The axe end left a crater in the sand, and before Thalia got up Percy had slashed at her diagonally with the axe end, forcing the huntress to block it with her other knife. The force of the blow nearly sent it flying out of her hand again, but Thalia had a grip of steel upon the knife. No way was she going to loose to Percy Jackson.

However, what the son of Poseidon did next shocked everybody in the arena. He used Calamity as a pole-vaulting device and jumped high into the air. He used his foot to kick Thalia's wrist holding the dagger, which caused her to drop it in pain, and he landed on her, knocking the two to the ground. Luckily, Percy landed on top of her and quickly rolled off before summoning Calamity into his hands and pointing the axe at her neck, medieval executioner style.

"Do you yield?" Percy asked in a chivalrous tone, setting the weapon on fire just for kicks. Thalia glared at him and nodded.

Calamity disappeared into thin air and Percy helped Thalia stand back up. She took his hand grudgingly but used her free hand to slap Percy, leaving a red handprint on his face. Percy yelped in surprise – honestly, it almost hurt as much as Reyna's frying pan – and the arena roared in laughter. She picked up her weapons and sheathed them, and Percy felt Riptide return to his pocket. Without another word, the proud huntress turned around and left the arena, and soon enough everybody was back to sparring with one another.

Percy made his way to the stands to watch the demigods skirmish. Not a single bead of perspiration appeared anywhere on his body, and he felt delightfully warmed up. _Now to plan on how to get to the Rockies_, Percy thought.

The first and most obvious plan was to go there on Blackjack, his constant pegasus companion. However, the camp would definitely note their disappearance, since somebody steadily kept tabs on all of the pegasi in and out of camp. The second (and better) plan was to hitch a ride on the Argo II and Argo III that were transporting the Romans tomorrow morning and take a detour to Colorado. But then, how would he get back? And how was he going to explain to everybody why he was going to the Rocky Mountains?

_Hey guys, I'm just going to go hiking in the Rockies for a couple of days. Don't worry about me!_

All of a sudden, Percy became dimly aware of something strange in the air. He felt a sudden urge to brush his hair down, to tuck in his shirt, and to spray some cologne upon himself. His heart pressed against the walls of his chest painfully, and his breathing became constricted. A small tint of perfume lingered in the air, and instantly Percy knew what was about to happen.

"How's my favorite demigod doing?" a silky voice purred next to him.

Percy's instincts told him to run. Run faster than the wind and ask question later. He desperately wanted to disappear into the shadows around him, but he stored the feeling deep down in his chest before looking towards the direction of the voice.

Aphrodite sat there, mischievous eyes twinkling with whirling colors; bright colored blouse contrasting against the black jeans that she wore. And as harmless as the Goddess of Love looked, he still remembered one thing – _never underestimate the Goddess of Love. The Olympians, they are not your friends._

Even though he didn't want to, Percy knew that Nyx was probably right – about the Olympian part at least. He knew his friends would never betray him, and definitely not Piper. But something about Nyx was righteous and just and trustworthy, so Percy had decided to listen to _most _of her advice.

"Lady Aphrodite," Percy said courteously and cautiously, making Aphrodite's eyebrows to furrow in annoyance.

"Petulant demigod," she hissed, "address me as Aphrodite and Aphrodite _only_."

"Okay, Aphrodite," Percy soothed. "Why are you here?"

"Personal enjoyment. I love talking to sweaty demigods in a sweaty arena," she muttered sarcastically, glancing around at the massive group of demigods sparring right in front of them.

"Hey, I'm not sweaty," Percy replied in mock indignation. His mood seemed to lighten somehow, and his previous instinct to run was gone.

The goddess rolled her eyes. "I was kidding," she pointed out. "I actually came here on Olympian business. We're investigating a power source that popped up around here a day or so ago. Arty stalked the source for a few hours before realizing that it was in the same room as she was, during the council meeting earlier today."

A spark of a foreign emotion riled up inside of Percy. The Olympians were most likely on his tail. He knew, without a doubt, that he was the anonymous power source, since Nyx decided to give him her full blessing. And what was worse was that the person who _invented hunting_ was on his trail.

Then he realized he was feeling _fear_.

"Do you know who it is?" Percy asked, poker face perfectly unreadable. Aphrodite studied him quizzically before chuckling slightly.

"Don't pretend you don't know, Percy," Aphrodite cooed. She leaned her face in and stopped a fraction of an inch away from Percy's lips. Before he could pull away, she spoke. "Raw power rolls off of your body. We gods and goddesses are attracted to power, and you should know that we _know_ it's you."

"What are you planning on doing about it?" Percy snapped, moving away from the goddess, but on the inside he was cringing. Olympians, he knew, were scared of any powerful demigod that were not children of Zeus and did not hesitate to strike him or her down. Had Percy been born a son of Zeus, he was pretty sure that he would've already been forced to god by now.

Inwardly, he prayed to Nyx. Something he had never thought to do, but the thought had suddenly struck him.

_Oh great Primordial of Night_, Percy mentally chanted, _tell me how to get out of this situation!_

_Haha, Perseus Jackson praying to me? _A voice answered gleefully in his head. _Ah, what a day._

_Help me!_

_Say please. We didn't train you for years just to have your manners go to waste._

_I was knocked out for two of those years by that drug you used on me, _Percy mentally argued. Already he could feel a headache coming on. _Just please tell me how to escape quickly!_

"Trying to find a way to escape?" Aphrodite asked. "Please, Percy, come with me to Olympus. We don't need to fight. If you come without resistance, then maybe I won't tell Annabeth the truth of your breakup." She had a small, coquettish grin on her face.

"Wait – what? What is that supposed to mean?" Percy demanded, barely hearing Nyx saying, _you've always wanted to learn how to shadow travel. Since you are new to it, imagine a place close and pull the shadows towards you._

Aphrodite smirked, her pink lips curling upward in a taunting manner. "Oh, you don't know?" she asked in mock innocence.

"What do you mean, _the truth of our breakup_," Percy snarled, causing the goddess's lips to curl upwards. His voice had a feral growl towards it, and his green eyes glowed dangerously. Aphrodite found, surprisingly, that she could not stare into the demigod's eyes – it brought her a foreboding sense of unease that was surprising to see coming from a mortal.

But _hot damn_, he was sexy. The feral way he growled sent pleasurable shivers down the goddess's back, bringing back a sensual sensation that she had not felt in a long time – _lust. _She was the Goddess of Lust, yet she was lusting for another man. But Aphrodite was content with messing up his life, because she had already given up her vendetta to claim him as her own; claiming the boy would cause a civil war upon Olympus. Yet a part of her was still angry with the boy for resisting her, so she decided that if she couldn't have Percy, _no one could._

"Oh, you don't know?" She repeated, eyes glinting sadistically. Aphrodite saw a slight blur of silver far off in the distance, notifying her of Artemis's arrival to the party. "My dear, wouldn't you just _love _to know."

Percy's hand clenched and then unclenched, knuckles turning white. He was struggling to keep his emotions under control, namely the anger and aggravation that was starting to take control of his brain. "_What did you do to break Annabeth and I up_?"

His fists clenched and lit on fire, dripping fiery liquid onto the ground. Aphrodite's face briefly went to slight fear before hardening into a sardonic smirk, flipping her hair backwards. Percy's blazing hands itched to wrap itself around Aphrodite's slender neck and strangle the answer out of her, but the feeling immediately died down when he felt a cold silver knife against his neck.

"Don't move, _boy_," the Goddess of the Hunt growled, drawing a bit of blood from Percy's neck. "You're coming to Olympus with us."

Struggling to keep his face in a stoic expression, Percy pictured the Poseidon cabin and willed the shadows towards him. Before Artemis knew what was happening, Percy felt his chest constrict painfully and sudden darkness washed over him before everything suddenly turned a bright white, blinding Percy. When his vision cleared, he found that he was in the interior of the Poseidon cabin, feeling physically exhausted.

Meanwhile, Aphrodite gently twirled her hair in her fingers before flashing off to find her the Goddess of Wisdom. But before that, she had to have a conversation with a certain daughter of Athena…

Percy fell onto his bed and closed his eyes. Oh how badly he wanted a nap, but he knew that he had to leave. How was he going to get out of camp, though? Fly all the way to Colorado in raven form? No, he was going to pass out from exhaustion from being in bird form for too long. Flapping his raven wings was analogous to doing the butterfly swim in an Olympic pool. Still, it was his best option, since Percy didn't want to risk going to the stables and hijacking a pegasus.

Sighing, Percy removed a trunk from underneath his bed. When he opened it, Percy's spirits were slightly uplifted when he saw the black and red armor of Rome resting in it. He quickly put it on without much difficultly and pulled the black hood over his head, casting his face into darkness. Then, without a word, Percy opened his cabin door and quickly stepped outside. He caught a few campers and Romans give him a ponderous stare before he promptly changed into a raven, causing a few demigods to jump in surprise.

It still took a little while for Percy to adjust to his newly proportioned body. The raven jumped up and down on the ground for a few minutes, trying to flap its wings into the air without much success. Then, it jumped up in a grandiose manner and fluttered off into the sunset, heading west towards Colorado.

* * *

Growling slightly, **ANNABETH** got up to answer the knocking at her door.

_The nerve of some people_, Annabeth thought, although she really couldn't blame the person. She had been catching up on her sleep, and after checking the clock Annabeth had realized that it was a few hours before lunch and she missed breakfast. At the mention of breakfast, her stomach growled loudly, and Annabeth quickly munched upon a granola bar while throwing on some casual clothing.

After making herself decently acceptable, Annabeth opened the door, only to find nobody there. Feeling annoyance bubble up, Annabeth stepped outside to see if the Stolls had been ding-dong-ditching again, but instead, Annabeth found something on the ground. She picked up a large, pink envelope that read, _To Annabeth Chase._

_It has a nice scent of peaches_, Annabeth mused before she tore it open. A small vial of golden liquid fell out and almost cracked open. Tentatively, Annabeth picked it up and read the label: _Memories_. _Drink if you want the truth. Love, a goddess you wouldn't dare to defy._

Utterly confused, Annabeth popped open the cap and smelled the golden liquid. It smelled sweet, like the strawberry milkshakes that the Demeter cabin would sometimes make. Annabeth took a long sip from the vial, and instantly her vision started blurring. Cursing herself for making such a stupid decision, Annabeth struggled to make it back into the Athena cabin before falling face first onto a bed.

She started seeing things. Memories of another person blurred together, and Annabeth saw seemingly unrelated incidences occur. Then Annabeth realized that she was watching a story unfold, a grand stage being set, and she was the puppet. Annabeth saw her memory being replaced by a entirely new one, she saw years of love disappear, and she saw a jealous goddess ruin Annabeth's love life, but most importantly, Annabeth saw the truth.

She had to find Percy Jackson.

* * *

**PERCY** soared through the cool air of the Rocky Mountains, watching the sun drop slowly but steadily. The sky was stained a beautiful shade of red, and a few clouds drifted in the scarlet sky.

The son of Poseidon was a little bit tired. He had been flying for about nine hours, but he still had a large portion of energy stuck within him, and he was nowhere near exhausted. In bird form, Percy didn't fatigue as much as a human would. For some time, Percy didn't even have to flap his wings; he just cruised along the air currents. The mountaintops had splotches of white snow stuck within shadowed ranges, tucked deep in the crevices of the mighty range.

Suddenly, Percy became dimly aware of a large, bright light shining directly upon him. Instinctively, Percy swooped downwards, breaking out of his pattern and gathering a lot of speed that a normal raven would not be able to achieve. During his journey, in order to get there in the fastest time, Percy settled on going about two hundred miles per hour, the average speed of the fastest bird in the world, a Peregrine falcon. It was funny watching a raven zoom by the landscape, gliding through the wind at an unnatural speed.

However, Percy wasn't even concerned about his raven's impossible speed. Some Primordial gimmick, perhaps.

Raven-Percy turned around and slowed himself down, flapping his wings in order to stay in the air. He saw nothing but the sanguine sky and the bright, white moon. The mountains poked up from the earth a few hundred feet underneath him, a few gleaming with snow-white caps. White clouds wound their way around the maze-like summit peaks, and Percy couldn't help but think how nice of a scene it was. If a bird could shrug, Percy would have shrugged. He just turned around and resumed flying.

Then the light was upon him again. Percy flapped his wings quickly, and rocketed upwards at speeds only a Primordial-blessed bird of prey could. Confused, Percy was about to turn around again when a sudden realization struck him.

Or, to be more exact, a sudden realization _nearly _struck him.

Something whizzed directly by his little bird head, and Percy instantly broke into a nosedive. A few more whistling objects soared by him, causing Percy to radically change his flight pattern. One even got close enough to give Percy a full view of the object – a gleaming, silver arrow. Wide-eyed, Percy flapped his wings even harder and caught himself in an air current heading downwards.

Artemis had been following him in her chariot, disguised as the moon. How did he not notice it? She had taken some hunters along with her and now they were shooting at him. The Goddess of Hunting was hunting him, and he was her prey. Any sane person would've shivered in fright or lost their marbles, but Percy was not a sane person.

Percy broke into another nosedive and soared downward towards one of the snow-capped mountaintops. Artemis's chariot followed him, and to his utter horror the air around him sizzled and a lightning bolt nearly struck him. It was close enough to cause him to spiral out of control and slam into the icy snow. Percy was fast enough to melt the ice into a liquid in order to soften his landing; otherwise, he would've broken a couple bones. He resumed his human form and barely managed to dodge a flying arrow, which embedded itself upon the snow underneath him.

With an almost non-existent tug in his gut, Percy melted the snow and raised the liquid for a transparent shield of cover. Any arrow that struck it slowed down and simply dropped to the ground, and it even absorbed the lightning from the sky. The gleaming white chariot slowly neared his position upon the mountaintop while Percy worked upon maintaining his life-saving shield.

When the chariot was almost about to penetrate his shield, Percy reformed the liquid in the sky into the shape of a spike and froze it, instantly creating a large, blunt ice spike. He willed it to slam into the side of the chariot. He missed and instead grazed the side of the moon. Luckily enough, the chariot was sent careening off course and it crashed into the mountainside far off towards the right of him.

Percy was about to resume bird form when his instincts caused him to roll forward. He heard something slam into the snow behind him, and immediately he lit his hands on fire and twisted his body to hold his arms up in a defensive position, facing the potential hostile. What he did see is a girl wearing a silver parka with springy brown hair – Phoebe, Percy surmised. The huntress had two daggers, one in each hand.

His enhanced hearing informed him that multiple objects landed in the snow around him. Percy turned slowly in a circle, and found himself outnumbered ten to one, including an Olympian goddess.

"Percy, fancy seeing you here," a sly voice called, causing Percy to glare at its source: an annoying daughter of Zeus.

Percy turned around and gauged the strength of his assailants. The nine huntresses were no doubt Artemis's best; the way their heads were held indicated that they knew what they were doing. And Percy was sure that if he made a wrong move, he'd immediately become a pincushion. He tried to see if there was any water in the air, but most of the water had been used up in the ice spike stunt.

Fire? No, he didn't want to hurt anyone. Percy was also pretty sure that Thalia was his superior in terms of lightning control, so that takes electricity out of the question. The ground underneath him didn't respond either. No doubt this was Ourea's territory, not Gaea's. So in the end, Percy decided upon diplomatic talks. Hopefully being a Roman Praetor had taught him something.

"Huntresses," he casually greeted, making sure that his voice was calm and soothing. Pontus had taught him something about appealing to women, but Percy was sure none of those tactics would work on veteran man-haters. "I come in peace."

"Yeah, but we don't," a blonde replied, pulling her bowstring taut and right at his face. Her dark eyes glowed with fiery determination, eager to please her mistress.

"Stand down, Lily," the youngest commanded, and the huntress lowered her bow. A small, twelve-year-old girl stepped towards Percy, gold and silver hunting knives held confidently in each hand. Percy made the flames on his fists lick upwards; slowly covering his arms in a dark, demonic fire that Percy was pretty sure came from Nyx. The huntresses subconsciously took a step back.

However, Artemis wasn't impressed – instead, she even seemed to lower her guard. The goddess sheathed her blades and walked towards him, seemingly weaponless. "Let's talk like civilized people," she implored, motioning for him to lower his guard.

Instinct told him to never let his guard up. Something about Artemis told him that she was as crafty as the foxes she hunted for pelts. Maybe it was Uranus consistently drilling into his mind to never lower his guard, or Nyx chanting _trust no one_. He pretended to relax his arms by lowering them, but his muscles were taut and he was ready for a sudden strike.

A knife could split the tension in the air. Artemis's thoughtful stare and the huntresses' bows lowered at his face didn't do anything to help matters. It was then when Percy realized what a bad situation he was in: running away from the Olympians, shooting down the moon, and then getting surrounded by nine veteran warriors and an Olympian goddess at full strength.

Honestly, Artemis could've probably turned him into a jackolope by now. And as much as Percy wanted to fight his way out of this, he knew that it would be folly to do so. He was probably already in hot water with Olympus, no need to worsen it by attacking Artemis's hunt. Plus, Artemis was Zeus's "daddy's girl," and Percy didn't want to endanger his father's reputation.

"Yes," he answered cryptically, trying to stall for time to think. "Let us talk in a civilized manner. Which means that I would really like no weapons pointed at me."

He felt the penetrating glares of nine girls and saw Artemis wave them down. The bows lowered, but the arrows were still notched within them, ready to be raised at a moment's notice. Maybe he could turn into a raven and fly away? No, it takes too long to transform and then get into the sky – it took a couple of minutes for Percy to get adjusted to his raven body.

Percy cursed mentally. _Why couldn't I be able to sprout wings out of my back or something? By Olympus, that would be so helpful._

"Perseus!" Artemis called. Her face betrayed annoyance. "Are you even listening to what I'm saying?"

Before Percy could respond, something bizarre happened, something that nobody would have been able to foresee. A sudden, sharp pain coursed through Percy's body and he felt as if he was being torn to shreds. He felt sick to the bone, as if something was exiting his body without his permission. He heard the creaking and groaning of his armor and then a sudden crack, as if something broke through the surface.

Searing, hot pain ripped throughout his body, causing him to drop to one knee in anguish. He felt as if he had grown a new pair of limbs and muscles to accompany it. It felt as if someone had sliced his back open, but after a few seconds the burning pain tapered off, only leaving a sore memory of the sudden pain. Shaking slightly, Percy got back up onto his two feet and looked at Artemis, who had drawn her two hunting knives again and pointed it at him.

"I'm sorry, what just happened?" Percy asked. His gut instinct told him to flex his new muscles, and when he did, Percy was propelled into the air several feet, earning a surprised yelp from both the huntresses and himself. It felt alien and awkward when he flexed his new muscles – it was like growing another leg and walking on it for the first time.

"Wings," Thalia muttered to herself, "the idiot has wings."

Percy turned around and was greeted with large, angel-like wings that glinted in the dying sunlight. Closer inspection led Percy to believe that, instead of being made out of feathers, his wings were coated in a hard layer of black scales, like those of a dragon, stained red with blood when they tore through his back. And, for the first time, Percy started to comprehend the fact that he had _wings_.

He flexed his muscles again and his wings flapped once, sending him upwards. In a flash, silver arrows sailed towards him. Before he could even process what had happened, his wings automatically wrapped around him and he heard the _chink _of arrows striking a hard, metal surface. Then he flapped his wings again and took off, barely managing to outmaneuver a throng of pointy arrow tips heading his direction.

"Sorry ladies!" Percy yelled. "I promise I'm not trying to hurt you guys!"

Sailing through the cold air, Percy resumed heading west. He knew he had stalled the huntresses – after all, he did destroy their transportation and left them on the cold slope of a mountain. After weaving in and out of the cloud-covered mountain tops, Percy began to realize that his new wings were basically the same is his arms. Although he didn't know how to retract his wings, Percy decided that he didn't need to worry about that for the time being.

_Who ever is out there_, Percy prayed, _and gave me these wings… thank you._

A large blast of lightning raced through the air, suddenly illuminating the surrounding landscape in a blinding blue flash. Thunder roared and rang in his ears, almost causing Percy to fall out of the sky. Clouds began to gather in the sky, and Percy was almost inclined to think that Zeus was about to smite him for flying in his domain.

"Nyx ain't the only one watching out for you," a familiar voice boomed, and the clouds dispersed, once again leaving Percy with the beautiful setting sun. Percy flew on and silently thanked Uranus. The Primordial responded by allowing a beautiful rainbow to appear in the sky for a quick few seconds before it disappeared into the maroon sky.

After catching a wind current and cruising along, watching the mountains fly by, Percy spotted an odd-shaped mountain. It remained still for a second before suddenly moving, sending a large cracking noise racing through the air. Whatever it was stood up, and Percy stopped flying and remained floating in air, gawking at the monstrous being that was otherwise known as Ourea.

Ourea was the Primordial of Mountains – now, Percy was sure of that. The Primordial stood above all the other mountains, which were only up to his waist. His body was an impossibly mammoth boulder, larger than anything that Percy had seen. His arms and legs were constantly shifting back and forth between avalanches of rock and dirt that poured over the earth. His face had two large, glowing blue orbs that light up the now almost dark sky, illuminating the sandy beard that covered the lower half of his face.

And for once, Percy felt impossibly small and vulnerable.

Was he supposed to defeat this? Primordials were apparently weak when they first wake up… but still; the raw power emanating from the behemoth was almost unbearable. It was drawing him in, like a massive electromagnet attracting paperclips. His instincts – which he had been following an awful lot lately – told him to come here, to fight Ourea, to defeat him, but now he was here, what was he supposed to do?

Percy flapped his wings slowly, as if flapping them too quickly would alert the Primordial of his presence. He pondered on how to defeat Ourea. Lightning was a big and obvious no. Fire was out of the option; fire doesn't burn rock. Perhaps he could drown him with water – no. It would take all the water from one of the great lakes to drown a mountain. He could try and cause earthquakes, but he didn't really trust Gaea enough to rely on the earth heavily.

During his time with the Primordials, Percy came to realize that there were more than four elements. There were the elements of light, of darkness, of ice, of lava; the list goes on and on. Surely one of them would be able to defeat the Primordial of Mountains.

Without warning, Percy felt eyes boring through him. Immediately, Percy realized that the Primordial had spotted him. There were thunderous cracks and thuds as Ourea walked towards him, each step covering over half a mile. For the first time in a long while, cold sweat started falling down Percy's face. It occurred to Percy that he was a mere demigod squaring off against a Primordial and that he could easily be squashed by the Primordial's giant foot.

He was brushed away from these thoughts when Ourea spoke, a strangled, gravely voice. "Soooo, this is whaaaat the Olympians seeent after meeee." His words were dragged out and he spoke between laborious breaths, which did little to comfort Percy's bundle of nerves.

"I was not sent by Olympus," Percy replied, amplifying his voice, causing it to bounce off of the mountains around him. Although his voice was confident, Percy was actually quite nervous. "I came by my own, free will."

The Primordial did not respond. Instead, he sat down upon a mountain, instantly smashing the rocky slope and causing a large landslide to occur. He sat in deep brooding for a moment, stroking his dripping, sandy beard. "Yoooou are the oooone Uranus speeeaks of, noooo?"

Percy did not reply. Instead, he lit his body on fire, brightening the night sky. Sunset was long gone, and now darkness surrounded him. Suddenly, Percy realized that he could see in the darkness. The two things that gave off light were the Primordial's pure blue eyes and Percy's flaming armor. The moon was not in the sky, Percy noted.

Ourea clapped, a weird noise. It was as if two mountains were being smashed against each other repeatedly. Then, without a care in the world, Ourea's hand grew and wrapped itself around a mountain. Percy was confused for a quick second before his eyes widened, realizing what the Primordial was about to do.

Ourea threw the mountain. Yes, he threw the mountain like a little kid would throw a baseball. A mass of rock and dirt came hurtling towards him, and Percy broke into a massive dive, going straight down. Even then, Percy barely managed to dodge it. The monumental gust of wind that followed sent Percy spiraling out of control. The ground came up far too fast for Percy to avoid, so he focused on attempting to soften his landing.

Luckily, the earth obeyed him, but Percy still crashed into the dirt with a sickening _crunch_! He almost screamed in pain and noticed, with a deep breath of gratitude, that he had not broken anything – sure, he would have large bruises on his back in the morning, but for now he was okay. Thank the gods that he had been smart enough to put on his armor. In an instant, Percy was back up in the sky, coughing out all of the dust in the air. Ourea still sat on his mountain throne, and his hands wrapped around two mountains. Percy braced himself and started flying towards Ourea. He didn't have a plan yet, but Percy knew that he should at least be within striking distance.

The first mountain sailed toward him. Percy flew in a wide arc towards the left and the projectile had almost hit him. He was close enough to see the tufts of grass on the slope of the uprooted mountain, and Percy tilted his wings in an angle upward, catching the gust of wind that followed and propelled himself upward, well out of the reach of the second mountain. He felt a little bit of blood trickle down the side of his face, and when he reached up to feel where the blood came from, Percy was shocked to find a large cut along the side of his temple. He hadn't bled blood in a _very _long time.

Then the gravity of the situation sunk in; he was dodging mile-high mountains like a dodge ball game. And to think that he had once questioned the use of dodge ball during gym class…

Percy suddenly got an idea; one so stupid and insane that it might work. With a burning sensation in his head, he melted a small portion of ground into lava and willed it to fly through the air. The flying lava hissed and started cooling in the cold sky, and Percy struggled to stay in the air and maintain the lava flow. Right before the lava hit him, Percy summoned Calamity and coated the weapon with the melted rock, knowing that the weapon was sturdy enough not to melt.

Ourea was getting impatient. He threw two mountains and kicked another towards Percy, and Percy braced himself. He flew underneath one and caught its following wind gust and soared towards the right, dodged the second one and almost smashed into the third mountain had he not been fast enough. The demigod flew straight up and was propelled upward, sending him high into the sky until he was just a blazing pinnacle of light.

Then came the incredibly stupid part of his plan. His entire body and weapons coated in lava, Percy dove straight towards the Primordial, who was definitely not expecting the demigod to take such a risky course of action. Percy flew underneath a swipe of Ourea's massive hand, which left a thick trail of dust large enough to obscure Percy's vision. In a few agonizing seconds, Percy was completely blind; vision clouded by particles of dust.

Clear air suddenly struck him, and Percy took short and quick breaths, which was all he could manage when flying at such a high speed. The massive face of Ourea appeared in front of him, and Percy held out Calamity so that its pointy end was pointed directly towards the Primordial's glowing blue eye. With a war cry worthy of Ares, Percy smashed into Ourea's eye. The lava instantly melted through the rock and he punctured straight through the side of Ourea's head, leaving a glowing trail of lava in his wake.

Had a mortal seen what happened, he or she would've been astonished – a monstrous being throwing mountains at a glowing, humanoid figure on fire. Then the mortal would have seen the figure practically smash his way through the being's head and go clear out through the side of its head. After that, of course, came the ear-shattering roar of pain that came from the throat of the mountain-sized monster.

Percy was lucky that he had angled his strike so that he came in through the eye and exited around the area of where the temple was. Due to the high speeds Percy achieved while diving down, his body had superheated to an unbearable temperature that melted rock and would've killed any normal demigod. Thanks to all the blessings Percy had gathered and his natural resistance to heat, Percy had managed to survive the endeavor, but he was exhausted and enervated of energy. Calling lava up to fly through the air with him had drained Percy of his elemental energy; lava had never been his strong spot anyways.

Ourea started falling backwards, reaching a hand up to claw toward the stars. Percy's strike must have knocked him backwards, sending the Primordial falling backwards. Percy, seizing his chance, flew down with him, no longer coated in lava. The two fell, gathering speed. The wind whipped and tore at Percy, who could even feel it through his thick armor of Rome. Finally, the Primordial landed with a massive _BOOM!_ The landing sent out a shockwave that flattened out mountains and uprooted trees.

Percy summoned what remaining energy he had left and light Calamity on fire, this time holding the axe end towards Ourea's last good eye, which seemed to be the Primordial's source of power. He collided with a massive explosion, completely shattering whatever was underneath him. The calamity that ensured sent him rocketing upwards, ears ringing and eyes temporarily blind from the awesome explosion that had just happened. Percy crashed into the side of a mountain and left a large crater, screaming in agony because this time, he didn't have the chance to soften his landing.

This time, he had definitely broken something. Percy tried getting up but winced in pain; his entire back felt as if it was on fire and his newfound wings disappeared. His armor, as good as it was, would not have been able to protect anyone from such a harsh landing, and it was miracle that he wasn't dead. But Percy knew who was dead… or at least defeated.

The smoking ruins of Ourea rested in a crater far underneath him, creating a new valley that had not been there before. Mountains in all directions had been bashed into curious shapes by the shockwave that had been caused by Ourea falling, and fire surrounded where his face used to be. So Percy was right when he guessed that Ourea's eyes were his source of power.

But now, the hero was terribly tired and in agonizing pain. Percy couldn't even summon any water, and his eyelids felt heavy. The thought that he, Percy Jackson, demigod son of Poseidon, had just defeated a Primordial, caused a small smile to break out onto his face before darkness overcame him.

* * *

**Ah, sorry if this came out late. Sorry for the unrealistic fight between Percy and Ourea, and Ourea's easy defeat will be explained next chapter.**

**We reached 100+ reviews for last chapter! Well, there were about eighty or so reviews for the last chapter, but there were a lot more for other chapters. So I decided that I owed you guys a 10k chapter.**

**Responses to reviews:**

**- Ω -**

**Child Of Old: **Don't stress out - take two deep breaths and count to ten, that's what my therapist says.

**KariE2000: **Thanks! Just trying to add some drama and bedazzle into this.

**lil Miss Mysterious: **Got a good laugh from reading this review - like the pen name.

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**Quentrall: **I'm glad that you did.

**IStoleYourLastCookie: **I'll stop making cliffhangers when you return to me my last cookie. :|

**BookDevourer52: **Haha - the drama is never going to lessen.

**Out of Thin Air: **Super great review dude :) Thanks

**tissue729: **Don't worry, I'm not as mean to do that. But that doesn't mean that I'll make things as hard as hell for them.

**TweetyBaby: **Maybe, maybe not. ;)

**marie-love46: **Well, I'll supply you with your demands!

**WisdomandthenNight13: **Here's the update, I guess.

**sparkkagfx: **Glad you did.

**cries: **That question will be answered this chapter, so keep your eyes peeled!

**Chubychicken: **Thanks! This is my first fan fiction, after all, and I'm really glad that it has so many reviews/favorites/follows.

**Wrestling is my best skill: **Yeah long chapters are awesome. The pen name is hilarious, by the way.

**Jennifer Jackson: **Good. Good.

**Mosgem: **Good review.

**nobody epic: **The second I looked at your name… even if it was a signed guest review, I'm giving you kudos for making me laugh out loud.

**mythology212: **Thanks. I seem to recall that you consistently review each chapter of the story - yeah, I notice little things like that.

**MeMyselfandI: **:D If only my teachers would agree…

**TheShadow207: **Great review!

**Anaklusmos14: **Everybody read this guy's fanfics. He updates basically everyday with high quality chapters - I think the two he's currently working on is God of Night and Intertwined Destinies. READ 'EM. Also, I hope your eye gets better - good luck on the speedy road to recovery!

**trustingHim17: **I hoped someone would pick up on that little detail… don't worry, this chapter is basically a showcase for Percy's new powers.

**Wolfman613: **Here it is.

**schoolsucksass: **Thanks. A large portion of this fanfic's readers hate Piper, but they read it anyways which I find slightly amusing. Thanks for the awesome review, and by the way, I'm old enough to know that I can't post it on the web. (But I can drive, so that's a hint there.)

**RTRfootball**: Thanks. It's always nice to hear someone say that.

**Borat: **I don't know why, but I feel as though your username could be some Dr. Seuss animal.

**MoonOverManifest: **I'll try my best to update as soon as possible. But sometimes school takes over and I want to make sure that I get good grades and stuff.

**Nogoodnms: **Haha, here is the badass beta for Starblade176's Everlasting Promises. You are hilarious, dude. Honestly, I do most of my reading at late night, so I was struggling to keep from laughing my butt off while reading your rant.

**TalalAlkayalSonofPoseidon: **I try my best with the cliffhangers. Kaite being scared of Percy will be answered this chapter, and Piper has to break up with Percy for the sake of the world. But that doesn't necessarily mean that she _is going to_.

**RedNebulosity: **Where did I say "fatigueing?"

**panzershrekunion: **Don't worry, that Assassin's Creed reference was just a one-time thing. There won't be anymore of that type of stuff.

**Mandi2341: **Thanks! I try my best to stay in character.

**SonoftheSea12: **Thanks for the high praise. I'm glad that the way that I portray the Primordials appeal to you.

**TakeYoCookie: **They are still dating, but events keep on getting in their way. And plus, WE DON'T NEED ANOTHER COOKIE THIEF.

**Leftover Meal: **Yes, the CLIFFY.

**S0n 0f PoseEidon: **Thanks - there are other good Percy/Piper stories out there right now, and I hope that there will be more. I've seen a growth in those stories, but most of them are friendship as to compared to romance.

**KoiChoco: **Your nice review is very much appreciated. :)

**Pollex: **War starts now.

**Blond Dude 42: **Yeah, its a bold request and it might not be done, but I like challenging the readers and see if they are even reading the author's notes. And yes, I'm responding to each and every _signed _review.

**timkaylor885: **Very nice indeed.

**k1demmin: **That's a good idea. It's such a good idea that, in fact, I incorporated that into my writing. Check the chapters again, and you'll see that I've used your idea. Thanks for the helpful suggestion.

**RememberWhen13: **Sorry, but this story will only be Percy/Piper. There may be one-sided pairings, such as Percy/Annabeth, but no love will be returned. However, I am planning on writing more fanfics after this story, so stay tuned!

**blueper: **Love your profile picture. Love it.

**TheStalkerPro: **Hey :P

**ghost8976: **Here's your 10k chapter.

**WorldCrusher: **I have a mac, and they way that I did the "**Ω**" was clicking option-z.

**BlackRainbows101: **That's an interesting pen name you've get there.

**TheASSASSINsCreed: **Yes they are. You like AC too?

**xoxOVERLORDxox: **Yeah, it'd be pretty awesome. Plus, you're my first reviewer/follower/favoriter ever.

**The Last One Standing Alive: **THANK YOU. That was the purpose for almost the entirety of this chapter.

** .X.X.X: **Yes, 10k words.

**prince of the seas: **Thanks. :D

**silvy2000: **Yeah, sorry for the long chapter wait. It takes longer than expected to write 10k words.

**troy: **My updating schedule is erratic and unorthodox. I need to be motivated to write a chapter, so typically I update after I read a really good story/one-shot.

**M: **'kay.

**Zylus: **Thanks, I will. And hi to you too.

**roxasduelwielder: **Haha, I hope so.

**queerman: **Don't worry, I'm going to stick by this story 'till the bitter end.

**percylover4ever: **I try my best with the spelling and grammar. There are many fan fictions out there that are better than mine, but I'm glad that you think so highly of this story.

**MarxVen3450: **I'll try my best. :)

**theanonymousthin: **Sorry for the wait; writing 10k is hard.

**Soph: **Well, here's chapter 19!

**colton: **Yeah, I like giving my characters different personalities. Thanks for spotting it :)

**PercabethFan1: **The story is Percy/Piper. There may be a little bit of Percabeth in the future, but I wouldn't count on it.

**Titan3: **There is no Chaos in this story.

**s: **okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

**Cosmic Avatar: **Thanks - sick profile pic, by the way.

**Soph: **Thanks for the enthusiasm for the story, although I'm okay with people disliking the story. I'm sure a lot of Percabeth fans absolutely hate the concept of this story.

**- Ω -**

**Well, these are replies to the reviews of chapter 18. Do you think we can get 100 again?**


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